Unsteady Ground
by crazysockmonkeys
Summary: When Daphne is chosen to be District 8's representative in the Hunger Games, Niles feels he only has one choice- to defend her with his life.
1. Chapter 1

Niles looked down at his brown shoes while his heart beat quickly.

Another Reaping Day was here.

He hated knowing that two people he probably knew would be taken and that later he would have to watch them die. It was rare that tributes from his district, District 8, ever won the games.

As of now, Ananias Peterman, District 8's representative, stood on the stage giving a small speech, but Niles paid no attention and doubted that anyone was.

When time came for the drawings, Niles didn't know where to look, so he closed his eyes.

At the age of seventeen, he was so remarkably close to never again being eligible to be a tribute in the Hunger Games, which he would so obviously lose. He knew that he would be targeted because of his lack of strength, and perhaps even for his irregular way of running.

Girls were drawn first. Girls always were drawn first.

This bothered Niles so very much, because it meant that he was forced to wait even longer to find out whether or not he was to be the next tribute.

Ananias opened the large, glass ball with hundreds if not thousands of small pieces of paper inside. He took his time reaching his hand into and hunting through the crisp slips until he had finally found one that seemed right.

He picked it up, closed the ball and read it.

"Our female tribute is Miss Daphne Moon."

Niles felt the floor drop out from under him as the words were uttered.

Not Daphne.

It couldn't be Daphne.

He had gone to school with the girl, the sweet, beautiful goddess. They had a few classes together, classes that Niles could never seem to pay attention in. She was the most beautiful, pleasant, alluring girl he had ever seen.

Thinking about her being killed like so many other tributes made him sick and filled with rage.

He watched her as she gently walked on to the stage, her face pale and downcast. She was wearing a white, gentle dress and her dark brown hair lied long down her back and shoulders.

When she was standing on the stage looking positively terrified, Niles felt as if he were about to burst.

Ananias went to the second glass ball and propped open the lid.

"I volunteer!" Niles heard himself shout out of nowhere. All eyes suddenly turned to him, and he started to slowly walk towards the stage.

"Alright then!" said Ananias. "We have a volunteer. What's your name, young man?"

Once he had reached the microphone, Niles said shyly, "Uh…Niles Crane."

"Ladies and gentlemen, District 8's tributes, Daphne Moon and Niles Crane!"

The crowd was unenthusiastic as usual. As everyone left, Daphne whispered, "Niles, why did you volunteer?"

Niles had no idea what to tell her. She knew nothing about his feelings for her, and this was no place to tell her anything.

"You're my friend, Daphne, and an honorable man has an obligation to protect a woman he cares about."

"That's wonderful, but you really didn't have to do that."

The words meant absolutely nothing to Niles. She obviously had no idea what sort of person she was.

* * *

As Daphne waited in a room in the courthouse, she shook with fear and wondered how long it would be before she broke down in tears.

She couldn't believe that Niles Crane had volunteered. She knew him well and he was very sweet, but the fact that he would volunteer just to protect her was simply amazing. He was truly a selfless, respectful gentleman.

At that moment, her brother Simon came through the door, followed by the rest of her family.

"Stilts!" he cried when he saw her. All of her brothers shouted encouragement at her and told her to make them proud, but that was not what Daphne wanted. Her heart ached with fear and depression, and all she wanted was someone to tell her that everything would be okay.

Daphne's mother walked over to her and hugged her. She had tears in her eyes. "I never thought that it would be you, Daphne. I thought maybe one of your brothers, but not you. I'm sorry."

"I love you, Mum," Daphne said.

"I love you, too."

As her father walked up to her, she practically fell into his arms. "You can make it, Daphne, I know you can. I love you."

"And I love you, Dad."

In a whirlwind, they all were gone.

Daphne ran her fingers through her hair and tried not to cry. Just as tears began to drown her eyes, her friend Roz burst through the door. "Hey Daphne," she said. They immediately hugged. "Don't worry about anything. Stay close to Niles, and try to find out what your strength is. Don't show them you're weak. It's a lot like getting a guy, actually."

"Thank you, Roz. I appreciate it."

And then she was gone, too.

Alone, Daphne leaned against the wall and cried.

* * *

Niles in no way doubted that he had done the right thing. He had absolutely no regrets about anything. He knew that if he needed to, he would die for her.

The door opened quickly and in rushed his brother Frasier. "Niles, what are you doing?"

"I…"

"Frasier," his dad scolded as he walked through the door. "We support you, son. I don't think that this was the wisest choice you could have made, but we support you."

"Thanks Dad," said Niles as he hugged his father.

Frasier stood and looked at Niles. "I'm sorry Niles. I don't know why you've done this…well, I think I do know…but I didn't think you'd go to such great depths is all. Good luck." He embraced Niles. "If Mom was here, I think she'd be proud of you."

"Thank you, Frasier."

And they were gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Someone later came and got the two and escorted them to the train. Niles couldn't help but notice that Daphne looked as if she'd been crying, and his heart ached for her. He himself was not feeling his greatest. It was likely that he would never see his family again. Daphne must have felt the same way.

The train moved so quickly and so smoothly it was hard to believe that they were actually traveling. Daphne stared out the window, though it was hard to see much of anything. "What do you think the Capitol is like?" she asked Niles.

"I don't know. I would imagine that everyone is rich and looks like him," he motioned to Ananias Peterman, who stood talking to a woman they had not met yet. He had blonde hair and was clean-shaven. He wore a navy blue suit and was made of a material they had never seen. The material was obviously made elsewhere than their own textile-producing district.

"I suppose so. Do you think they really make all that fuss over tributes, or is it all made up stuff just for TV?"

"Well, we'll find out soon enough."

They were silent for a moment.

The woman that had been talking to Ananias was now right behind them. She cleared her throat, and Daphne and Niles turned around.

"Hello, I'm Winter," said the woman. "Winter Stokes."

Her hair was long and silvery, with remnants of what once was the color red. She was thin, yet small with a strong frame.

"I'm your mentor," she said. "Though, you might have already known that."

The two introduced themselves, and Winter invited them to sit down. "I can already tell I've got a likeable pair on my hands. Do you two know each other?"

"Yes," Daphne began, "we've got a few classes together at school here and there. I would say we're pretty well acquainted."

"Good. That's another plus. This is the first thing to be done with every tribute is to find out everything about them. You never know what might help and what might hurt. First, I need to know your economic situation…if you're rich or poor. I'm sorry if it's personal, but it's important, believe me."

Daphne sighed. "Well, I've got eight brothers, so my family really isn't that well off."

"Alright. You'll want to make that public. People will be more willing to support you if they can relate to you. Niles?"

Niles stared at the floor. "I…well, I…"

"He's rich," Daphne said for him. "His mother did some work for the Capitol."

"Interesting. Like I said, I think you too are some very likable tributes that won't have any problems getting sponsors. Now that I have a general feel for you, I'm going to go. Just…do whatever."

Winter smiled, stood up, and left the room.

Niles sighed. "What do you suppose she means by that…I'm likeable?"

Daphne just smiled at him. "Well, I like you! Everyone at school does. You're kind, and sweet, and even a little bit handsome. I mean, who wouldn't like you?"

Niles' heart raced. "Thank you, Daphne. The same goes for you. You're so…beautiful…and very…nice…" He suddenly cleared his throat. "Daphne, there's something I have to tell you and I think it would be best to do it now."

"Sure, Niles. What is it?"

He couldn't stop shaking. "Well, the truth is…I…I…" Niles felt the voice that was going to tell her he loved her suddenly be strangled. "I saw you crying earlier. You don't have to be brave on my account. I'm here for you if you need to cry."

"Oh, thank you, Niles. I just can't believe this happened. I was so close to…" The tears then began to fall slowly. "…to never having to endure that stupid little ceremony where all you really do is pick someone to die. I prayed that it wouldn't be me or one of my brothers, but each of us had to trade our names for tesserae so often…I'm surprised it took this long to happen."

Niles reached out his hand and brushed away her tears while his heart beat loudly in his ears. Suddenly his yearly hellish trip to the Reaping seemed like nothing. As he drew his hand away from her face she grabbed it and held onto it tightly. Her eyes were shut and he noticed that tears were no longer spilling out of them.

"Thank you, Niles," she whispered at last. "I hate to say it, but I'm almost glad you volunteered. I'm just so relieved that it's you I get to spend my time with, not some perfect stranger. I know I haven't ever really spent much time with you, but I should have. You've always been so kind to me, and everyone. I feel very close to you."

The words echoed through Niles' mind as if somewhere in the distance he had heard them before, but he did not know where.

Daphne moved her chair closer to Niles, laid her head on his shoulder, and fell asleep.

Niles had never felt better.


	3. Chapter 3

Within hours they had arrived at the Capitol, and Niles watched as Daphne stared out the window. She pressed her palms against the glass and leaned her forehead against it as well, taking it all in.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed when she saw the high-rise buildings, accompanied by an open sky and flowering trees. Niles stood feet away from the window, almost as if afraid of the sight.

Something wasn't right about it.

In an instant, they saw the massive throng of people as close to the tracks as they could get, hoping to get a glimpse of District 8's tributes. No doubt they had seen their faces already via television.

Daphne stepped back to where Niles was the second she laid eyes on them. "They scared me a bit. They're obsessed, aren't they?"

Niles only nodded as they continued to watch the crowd fly by, each person looking, in a way, exactly the same. It seemed all of them could afford to live up to the Capitol's definition of beauty. Anger at every one of them burned inside Niles. They were the ones who had done this to Daphne. They were the ones who had forced them both to enter the games.

"They're more than obsessed, Daphne," he told her. "I would call them…sick."

"Sick?" she asked. "Why?"

Niles looked her in the eye.

"Because they're just not right."

* * *

Soon, they found themselves at the place where, for the next few days, they would board and train for the games.

"We're all on the eighth floor," said Ananias as they stepped on to the elevator. "I'll show you where we're staying and then it will be time to meet your stylists!"

Daphne cringed at the thought. Perhaps it would be nice to receive some beauty treatment, but she was certain that that meant someone poking at her and making her feel uncomfortable.

Sure enough, that was exactly what happened. For most of her treatment, she didn't have a stitch on, and much of it was having her legs and some other parts of her body waxed. Her four stylists washed her hair with some sort of shampoo that she had never seen or heard of before, and they rubbed her skin with an ointment that Daphne could only use one word to describe: heavy.

When she was finally able to put on a sort of hospital robe, she sighed with relief but still felt a little self-conscious. Someone led her to a small room and told her to wait there for her main stylist, a woman named Savera.

While she waited, Daphne stared down at her toes. Her toenails looked so neat, so clear, so clean. She looked at her legs. She had run her hand up them earlier, and she doubted she had ever felt skin so soft. Her arms felt the same, and so did her face and neck.

_What did they do to me? _She thought.

Her hair felt like some sort of imported silk, and it smelled like…well, she wasn't sure what, but it smelled good. Somehow her lips weren't chapped anymore. Her fingernails were smooth and shiny.

Suddenly, a woman came through the door. She had long, black hair in curls and was wearing a trimly cut red dress. Daphne noticed that she was holding the dress that she had been wearing earlier. "I'm Savera," the woman said to her.

"Daphne Moon," she replied.

"I just want to start out by saying that I'm glad I got assigned to work with you. I watched the Reaping on TV and there was just something about you…I was hoping they would pair me with you, Daphne. This afternoon, Niles' stylist Thalia and I came up with our idea for you costume for the parade tonight, and I planned it with this dress in mind." She lifted up Daphne's dress in her hand. "I just love it."

"Really?" Asked Daphne. It was so plain it had never been something of beauty in her own eyes.

"I do." Savera smiled slyly. "It's simple, yet so balanced and pretty, and that's what I see in you. That is exactly what I plan to do with your costume. Simplicity works on you, honey. It's your highest strength."

"Thank you. I'm sort of relieved to hear that. I was afraid you were going to put me in something loud and attentive."

Savera smiled. "Never, honey. You'll get attention wearing this, but not the wrong sort of attention. You and Niles will look smashing. Come on, I'll take you to where you'll get in the dress and have your hair styled and all that."

When they arrived in the room, the four people who had been working on her earlier told her to close her eyes as they got her dressed and got her hair and makeup ready.

Though she couldn't see anything, Daphne could tell that the dress was long and dragged on the floor. It had quarter sleeves and a few petticoats on the skirt, and the rest was skintight. She could feel them curling her hair, and then putting on several layers of makeup.

"Savera," said one of the stylists, "We can't do her eye make up with them closed."

"Alright," Savera said. "Daphne, open your eyes."


	4. Chapter 4

Niles did not like his costume. He supposed he could have been given worse, for it seemed that all Tribute Parade costumes were a bit much.

Since District 8 manufactured textiles, Niles' shirt was made of several different types of fabric, all stitched together with burgundy thread. Each piece was a long, vertical strip and some even had sequins on them.

A man wearing sequins? It was unheard of. Niles imagined what a laugh Frasier would have over this when he saw him on TV.

His pants, thankfully, were relatively normal. They were a simple black.

He sat in a chair, watching as his strange-looking stylists applied makeup to his face. Niles had never worn makeup before, and it felt strange.

Thalia, his main stylist, told him he looked handsome and "regal." He sorely disagreed, but nodded and smiled in thanks. "We'll go meet up with Daphne and then it will be time for the parade! Oh, this is just my favorite part of the whole games. Everyone gets to see the tributes in their wonderful outfits and see how lovely they look, and oh, I just love it! It gets me so excited!"

Niles wanted to be sick. He did not like his stylist much either.

Thalia took him by the hand and led him to the main living area of the eighth floor. Daphne had not arrived yet. In waiting for her, he looked out of the large, glass windows that made up the whole wall on one side. Lights illuminated crowds not too far from where the building stood. Again, his rage for them began to boil within him. Without thought, he slammed his fist against the glass.

"Niles," he heard behind him.

He spun around and found himself face to face with Daphne.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, staring at his still clenched fist.

Niles barely heard the words as he looked at her. The material his shirt was made of did not look ugly or ridiculous on her. On her, it looked stunning.

Her dress was positively beautiful. It reached all the way to the floor and seemed to have just enough petticoats. The top half was tight and flattering on her body, and her sleeves went just past her elbows and stopped.

She wore makeup, but not too much. She still looked like wonderful, beautiful Daphne. Sparkles framed her eyelids and her lips were a deep, garnet red.

When she saw how Niles was looking at her, she smiled. "It's something, isn't it?" Daphne said. She twirled slowly.

"You're…you look…" The words wouldn't come out of Niles as he tried to compliment her. "You look like something that's come from the highest realm of heaven, Daphne. Just…beautiful." He reached out and took her hand, staring at it and being so tempted to kiss it.

He refrained.

"Thank you, Niles. I rather like it myself. You know, you look very nice, too."

"You think so? Well, thank you Daphne, I appreciate it."

When Ananias showed up, Niles and Daphne went to the place where they would get ready to ride out on their chariots and be seen by the world. Upon their arrival, Winter began to advise them.

"Smile," she said. "Look happy. It doesn't matter if you want to look tough, what really will matter is if people like you or not. You both have wonderful smiles. Use them, you won't regret it."

With that note, she went to stand with Savera, Thalia, and Ananias on the sidelines.

The two stood beside their chariot, not really knowing what else to do. Niles eyed the horse with as look of fear, and Daphne smiled.

"Winter is very distant, isn't she?" she said to Niles.

"Yes, she is. She hasn't told us much about herself at all. I suppose I don't blame her. We might be gone in a matter of days as far as she knows."

Daphne nodded slowly and stared at the ground. Niles felt bad about his words instantly and changed the subject.

"There's that girl we saw on the Reaping tape," he said to her as he pointed out the female tribute from District 9 directly behind them.

Winter had forced them to watch the other Reapings on the train ride over. Both Niles and Daphne had pointed out this girl as someone who looked different from the other tributes somehow.

"Her name was MaryBeth, wasn't it?" Daphne asked him.

Niles nodded.

MaryBeth had shoulder-length light brown hair with green eyes, and Niles noticed how much of her reactions nods and smiles were as the other District 9 tribute talked to her.

"I guess we'll get to know her in training," Niles said.

Daphne nodded.

Within minutes, everyone was in their chariots. A golden handle went across the top of the chariot, and Niles rested one hand near the middle of it. Daphne laid her hand on top of his and the two smiled at each other.

Niles' heat quickened at even this small of a gesture.

Before they knew it, their horse began to move.

The crowd somehow didn't seem real. Daphne had to move her hand off of Niles' to get a firmer grip on the handle, because she feared she might pass out at any moment.

But even so, she couldn't help but smile at the whole thing. She waved proudly with her free hand and felt like royalty as she did.

The rage began to rise up like a tide inside Niles as he stared at the crowd all around him. He forced his smile and wave. He wanted to shout curses at them all, to tell them to look at the beautiful girl next to him and ask them how they could dare to send her to a place of destruction. He wanted to tell them about all the starvation he saw in his district and demand they do something about it.

But there would be no point in that. Niles didn't stop smiling. He didn't stop waving. He didn't stop pretending that somehow all of this made him happy.

In an instant they were standing before President Snow.

"Welcome, Tributes!" he called to them. "Congratulations on receiving this opportunity to prove your strength, will, and determination to all of Panem. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

Both Niles and Daphne wanted to roll their eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Sorry this chapter is a little short! Thankfully, I love writing this story, so longer chapters are coming within a matter of days!**

* * *

After Niles and Daphne had been helped out of their costumes, given a pair of pajamas, and freed from their makeup, they were shown to their rooms. They were right next to each other, and Niles felt his knees grow weak as he noticed this.

"Get plenty of rest, you two," Ananias told them. "Training begins tomorrow!"

When he had walked away, Daphne sighed audibly. "Goodnight, Niles," she said. She wrapped him in a warm hug and then walked into her room and shut her door behind her.

It was two hours before both tributes were asleep.

* * *

Daphne decided to bathe before bed, but realized as soon as she entered the bathroom that his would not be possible. There was no bathtub, rather a shower. She had never used one before, but figured it out soon enough.

The water, in fact, came from the ceiling, and the glass doors reached up that far save for a small slit for air. Water surrounded Daphne, and it felt so strange, like hot rain coming from heaven. She moved out of the way of the water just for a second and stared upwards, watching the water flow down quickly.

Suddenly, she felt exhausted. Daphne sank to her knees and sat on the dark tiles that made the floor. Grief rushed over her without warning, and she covered her face with her hands.

Daphne was lying down now, with one arm covering her eyes, but tears still oozed out of them. She realized that his had been her first time being alone since the brief moment before meeting Savera, and then before that was the few minutes after she had said her goodbyes.

And now this.

People were what had been keeping her from falling apart.

Especially Niles.

Daphne got up, washed off, dried herself, and got back into her pajamas. Desperate, she leaned against her door and turned the knob slowly. Darkness greeted her, but light from her own room fell out the door and stopped some of it in its tracks. All of this was like a dare.

Dare she step outside her room? Dare she take a few steps in darkness? Dare she knock on Niles' door?

_No, _came her thoughts. _Don't be silly, Daphne. He's a nice guy, but don't make him sick of you. Go to bed. Rest for training._

In obedience to her thoughts, she closed the door, got into bed, and turned out the lights.

Darkness kissed her goodnight and she was asleep.

* * *

Niles lay in darkness, thinking of nothing.

After all, what was there to think about?

He knew why he was here and though it was horrible, he wanted to be nowhere else. Although, training began the next day, and he was not looking forward to this. Niles could do nothing when it came to physical feats. Perhaps throw a punch or two if that. What was he to do for training? He couldn't show the other tributes his weakness, especially if he was going to protect Daphne.

Daphne. Niles worried about her in the back of his mind and wished that she was here with him as he had so many times before.

Suddenly Niles began thinking.

Should he go to her room and check on her? Was she hurting at this moment? Was she crying?

Was she sleeping?

That was the problem. Daphne might have been just fine, and he might be waking her up by going to her room.

Niles got out of his bed and felt himself being surrounded by cold and the darkness. He took small steps toward his door, wary of the spiders or other bugs that might have been waiting for him.

When he had reached the door, he pushed his palm against it. So slowly and so carefully Niles reached for the doorknob. It was so cold…

Niles shivered severely as fear's dry hand seized his heart. He couldn't.

Carefully, he slid into his bed and shut his eyes tight.

His father was asleep by now. Frasier was probably up reading Freud and would be doing so for several hours yet.

How could Niles possibly sleep?

Nothing was quite a lot to think about.


	6. Chapter 6

When Niles and Daphne were awakened by knocks at the door, they left their rooms and found that a large breakfast had been made for them, as well as Winter and Ananias.

Daphne watched as Niles took his seat next to her. She had never been gladder to see him. Once he was seated she found his hand beneath the table and squeezed it tightly. He squeezed back and suddenly she felt ten times better.

Everyone at the table was hungry. There had not been time to eat since the train ride. Daphne barely noticed hunger anymore, it almost seemed to be a part of her, but Niles was used to eating substantial meals three times a day and felt hunger roam drearily inside of him. Earlier he had had other things to distract him, but now, seeing all this food, it consumed him.

As the four proceeded to get their food, everyone watched as Daphne took hardly a thing.

Niles felt empty as he realized this. "Daphne," he said, "look at all this food here. Take some more."

For a second, her face was blank as she stared down at her plate. She had done this out of force of habit, for at home this was the amount she was used to.

Daphne smiled suddenly. "Of course," she said. "Silly head."

So she put more food on her plate and began to eat it.

"You take such small bites," Winter commented, smiling. "Come on, girl, you've got to bulk up!"

Daphne smiled, embarrassed once again.

When they had finished eating, Savera helped Daphne get into her training suit and her stylists French braided her hair. Niles felt so out of place in his suit that it hurt, but he knew that the next few days in training would be like that as well for him.

When the two met up, Niles couldn't help but notice how tight and form fitting the suit was on Daphne, but he tried not to stare.

The elevator ride to the first floor was long and strenuous. Winter rode with them. "If you know what your strength is right now, try your best not to show it. Remember, use your judgment. It's best not to trust anyone at this stage, because they might be putting on a kind face and use it against you later."

Daphne nodded, and Niles' eyes were glued to the ground.

The training area was on the first floor, on the other side of a pair of doors that opened by themselves. Both were surprised at its immense size. There seemed to be so much going on in the room. Stations were set up in every direction, and about half of the tributes had already arrived. It was funny to Daphne to see how many of the tributes from different districts stuck in pairs.

The first two she happened to see were from District 1. There was one girl who was very thin, but also looked strong. When they entered, her eyes immediately fell upon Niles. She whispered something to the male District 1 tribute who was standing next to her, and he rolled his eyes. Daphne tried to remember their names from the Reaping recordings they had watched, but she couldn't.

The District 2 tributes were strong and healthy looking, like any old Career tribute. This time, Daphne remembered names. The girl's name was Silver, and the boy's was Ruse. Silver had hair the color of coffee beans and eyes that made you want to run away and never come back. Ruse was so tall that you would need a stepstool to look him in the eye, and his black hair shone like obsidian. Both of their faces were blank and emotionless, which perhaps scared Daphne most of all.

District 7's representatives were average looking people. The boy's had eyes like leaves in the sun, and the girl, Emilyann, had a museum of different shades of blonde flowing down her shoulders. Daphne immediately wished she could have hair like that.

Finally, her eyes reached MaryBeth and Jack, the other District 9 tribute. Jack was slightly taller than MaryBeth, with darker hair than hers. He whispered to her while she smiled and listened, just as they had seen at the parade.

She could observe no one else, because at that moment training began.

* * *

Niles' first instinct was to go wherever Daphne did, but in the end it did not work out that way. Daphne first headed for the station on how to throw spears well, and Niles hated to humiliate himself so early in this process, so he went to the station that taught one how to identify different sorts of plants.

In front of him was a small touchscreen with all varying types of leaves. Before he could touch one, a voice cleared its throat in front of him.

He raised his head and saw a girl's face, and when he saw it he got a very strange feeling.

She looked so distantly familiar. He had received the same feeling when Daphne had said something to him on the train.

The girl was thin and pale, and Niles could see from her suit that she was from District 1. "Hi," she said. "My name's Maris."

"Hello," Niles said.

"I just want to let you know that…I could arrange it if you wanted to team up with the Careers. For once I wouldn't mind helping out the little guy."

Maris slowly laid her hand on top of Niles', but he drew away.

"Thank you, but no. I will do well enough on my own."

She sneered and walked away.

For the first time, Niles noticed MaryBeth sitting next to him. At this moment, she was trying to suppress the grin that was tearing itself across her face.

"She was a little much, wasn't she?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said, laughing.

"I'm Niles."

"MaryBeth."

Niles began to work at the screen and they were silent for a little while until MaryBeth said, "I can't do much of anything athletic. I'm an okay shot, so I'll probably go over to archery next."

"I'm not much for sports, either. That's why I'm here."

She nodded without lifting her eyes from the screen. "Me too." MaryBeth paused for a moment. "Are you the one that volunteered?"

"Yes, that would be me."

She did not ask why, and Niles was extremely grateful for that.

* * *

**Author's note: Thank you all for reading! The credit for deciding to add Maris as a tribute goes to xfilesfanatic, whose stories I would _highly _recommend. :) **


	7. Chapter 7

When it was time to switch stations, Niles felt conflicted. He still wanted to lie low and stay at the easy, more logical sort of stations, but it might also be useful to learn some of the tougher stuff.

He found that Daphne was suddenly standing next to him. "Well, go on Niles, pick one. I'll just follow wherever you go. Listen, I know sports really isn't your thing, but it's such a shame when people let fear stop them from trying new things."

Niles froze. He felt that same feeling of apparent familiarity. It was as if the answer to why it seemed so close was right there in front of him, but for some reason he could not see it. Something would not let him see it.

Perhaps Frasier would know. He suddenly wished that his older brother were here to discuss it with him.

"Niles?" Daphne touched him on the arm and Niles sprung out of his daydream. "Let's go over to the knives, Daphne," he told her, remembering what she had said to him just seconds ago.

When they had reached that particular station, they were properly educated on what sort of knives did what, and then they were taught the best way to throw knives.

While Niles and Daphne were waiting in line for the target, they noticed Jack from District 9 flirting very obviously with Emilyann, the District 7 girl. Emilyann pressed her eyes down at the ground, and as Jack touched her shoulder lightly, she brushed it away.

Niles was relieved that his relationship was Daphne wasn't anything like that. He tried to imagine if she ignored him or shrugged him off in any sort of way. He would be heartbroken if this was the case. This made him want to school Jack in the proper way to treat one the heart longs for.

When it was Daphne's turn, he watched as she threw the knife and it hit towards the middle of the target. "My brothers taught me," she told Niles, smiling. He himself was relieved to hit the target, though missing the center by a large gap.

The rest of training slipped by in much the same way, until the time when they were to be scored on their athletic performance. Niles was relieved to even receive a three, and Daphne was given a seven, which Winter said was good. "Not too high, not to low, but balanced," she had told her.

Before the tributes knew it, the day of the five-minute interviews with Caesar Flickerman had arrived.

* * *

Thalia gave Niles his outfit and he was relieved to see that it looked practical and smart. "It looks like it suits you," she said with a small smile on her face. "I know you weren't a fan of the one you wore during the parade. This is more your speed, isn't it? Well, that's what the interviews are all about, getting to know you! Oh, gosh, I just love the interviews! They're so much fun and everyone gets to really _meet_ the tributes…"

Niles tuned Thalia out and more carefully examined his outfit.

It was a navy blue jacket and pants, with a lavender colored shirt underneath. Niles wished that he had a tie to accompany it, but other than that he was pleased with it.

The rest of the preparations were the same as before, with all of the makeup and hairdressing. When finally he was released, he found Daphne already waiting for him in the living area.

Niles suddenly could not breathe.

"You look lovely, Niles!" she exclaimed upon seeing him.

"_I _look lovely? Daphne, if anyone looks lovely, it's you!" He honestly knew nothing else to say to her.

Her dress, unlike the one she wore to the parade, stopped at her knees. It was a dark shade of sheer purple, and the sleeves were tight and went all the way down to her wrists. Around her neck was a string of pearls, a lot like the ones Niles' mother used to wear.

Daphne thanked him for his compliment, and they began to walk to the stage where soon Panem would learn just a little more about Daphne Moon and Niles Crane.

The interviews moved slowly for both of them. Career interviews were routine. Maris looked like she usually did, as if she was better than everyone else in the entire room, and the other District 1 tribute, Wren, was almost the same way.

Silver and Ruse left their faces almost blank save for the occasional sliver of a smile. Again, this scared Daphne slightly.

Three, four, five, and even six ran together. Seven had their hearts racing with nerves. Finally, it was Daphne's turn to be interviewed.

Winter had advised them to smile and try to be themselves. "Be comfortable," she had said. "They'll pick up on it if you do, I guarantee it. It doesn't matter if what you say is a lie; lie if you have to. Just _be positive._"

"Ladies and gentlemen," Caesar Flickerman began, "please welcome the luminous, enchanting Daphne Moon!"

Daphne smiled, stood up straight, and began to walk to the center of the stage. Everyone was applauding her, and she felt dizzy, quite like she had during the parade.

When she had sat down, she heard herself emit a very shaky sigh.

"So Daphne," Caesar began, "how are you this fine evening?"

"Very well, thanks! This is quite a lot to take in, though."

"Yes, I suppose it would be. Now, about the games, do you have any special skills or talents you might like to tell us about?"

"I'm not bad at running, and I have experience in finding things to eat. And…I'm a bit psychic."

The audience gasped and it made her jump. "Are you? That's amazing!" Caesar said the words with an excited tone, and Daphne wondered if it was real. "Have you received any premonitions about this year's games?" he continued.

"No, unfortunately. It's not too late, though!"

"Well, Daphne, have you enjoyed your stay at the Capitol so far?"

"Oh yes! It's lovely here."

"What do you suppose your favorite part has been?"

"The beds are very comfortable, I've noticed. Better than what I've got at home, at least."

"Well, thank you, Daphne. You are truly an unforgettable girl. Everyone give it up for Miss Moon!"

The roar she received from the audience was very unexpected to Daphne, and she found herself curtsying to them without even thinking about it first.

As she walked off, Winter grabbed her and pulled her aside, away from the earshot of the other tributes. "Excellent job, Daphne! It couldn't have gone better. Right now, you are the most desirable tribute in my opinion. You got the perfect score and now they know who you are! I'm just hoping Niles does the same way. Honestly, I'm a little worried."

The two looked over at Niles as he stared at the floor, just waiting for his name to be called.


	8. Chapter 8

Daphne, Winter, Savera, Thalia, and Ananias all stood backstage alone, watching the screen and hoping Niles' interview would go well. All worried that something would go terribly wrong, and at this point there was too much to risk.

Niles carefully walked on to the stage, trying his best to smile. Daphne knew how he felt about Capitol people, and she knew that it must have been a struggle for him.

"Welcome Niles," said Caesar Flickerman above the applause Niles was getting.

"Hello, Caesar," he replied.

"I hope you don't mind me saying so and pardon me if this sounds a little strange, but Niles, you look very handsome tonight. That look really suits you!"

Daphne smiled involuntarily. He did indeed look very handsome.

"Really? Well, I only wish it came with a tie, but other than that I would say the same thing!"

The audience laughed thunderously, and Daphne smiled again.

"From that I take that you're a man of style, Niles, would you say that that's true?"

"I would say that, yes. I believe that one should always dress properly, no matter what occasion."

"And I would have to agree with you."

Everyone laughed again.

Caesar spoke up once more. "Now, Niles, on a more serious point, I think we're all wondering something. Why did you volunteer?"

Suddenly, everything got silent.

"For…Daphne," Niles began. "She is my friend, and it is my belief that a gentlemen should offer to protect women they care about."

What happened next Daphne could not understand. A dark, secretive smile spread across Caesar's face, and the audience chuckled as if Niles had said something witty.

She flipped around and faced her team. "What's going on?" she asked.

Savera gently grabbed her arm. "Oh Daphne, you mean you really don't know?"

"Don't know _what_?" she asked more sharply.

"Daphne!" Winter exclaimed out of nowhere, as if trying to protect her from something. "Watch Niles, he's almost done."

"Well, that was very noble of you, Niles," Caesar told him. "I wish you the best of luck. Give it up for Niles Crane, everyone!"

The audience clapped for him like they had for Daphne, and he left the stage with confidence.

When Niles had reached backstage, Daphne hugged him tightly. "You did wonderful," she said. "As did you," he told her.

Winter shook his hand. "You did an excellent job, Niles. It went better than I had anticipated."

They stayed and watched the rest of the interviews, then left for the eighth floor.

* * *

Niles could not think as he lied in bed. Tomorrow the games began. Winter had been advising him and Daphne, and while he respected her words, some he disagreed with and knew he would have to go against in order to protect Daphne. Therefore, it was as if Niles had no plan at all.

In fact, the only thing Niles knew he had to do was to never leave Daphne's side. It might be difficult, but it was the most effective thing he could think of.

He suddenly was very fidgety and restless. Had he anticipated to get any sleep tonight anyways? He got out of bed slowly and carefully made his way to the door.

It opened silently, and Niles found himself walking to the sheet of glass that separated him from the outside. There hadn't been windows like this in his district. It took up the entire wall and it hadn't a smudge on it.

He could see people partying in the down below him, so ready to see people be killed tomorrow. _They probably want to see me dead, _he thought.

"Niles?" he heard behind him. He looked to see Daphne standing there, wrapped in a bathrobe. "Oh, Daphne," he told her, "you should be getting some rest."

"So should you," she said with a slight smile on her lips.

"Yes, I suppose I should."

"I don't know how they can expect us to sleep."

"Me either."

They were silent for a minute.

"Niles, I think you should be aware of something. I…I know I said earlier during the interview that I hadn't received any premonitions about the games, but…I was wrong. I got one last night, and…I'm going to die."

Niles looked over at her in shock. "No Daphne…"

"I don't know if you believe in my powers or not, and I am frequently wrong, but I haven't ever had a vision like this before. Niles, I know it's going to come true."

"I won't let that happen, Daphne."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Why don't we talk about something else?" she suggested.

"Alright."

And again, neither one said anything.

Niles knew he had not yet told Daphne how deeply he was in love with her. Winter had told him that it might be best to do it during the games so sponsors would see it, but perhaps it would be better to tell her now and get it out of the way.

"I need to tell you something," he blurted unexpectedly.

"Yes Niles?"

He looked deeply into her eyes and tried to find the courage. Once he thought that he had enough, he spoke, but what came out was completely different from what he had wanted to say.

"You looked absolutely beautiful tonight. Stunning. That dress…it was just perfect for you."

"Thank you so much, Niles. You always say the nicest things to me." She kissed his cheek, then walked back to her room and closed the door.

Alone once more, he sighed deeply and leaned his head against the glass.


	9. Chapter 9

When Niles finally drifted off to sleep, he didn't know that just two hours later he would be awakened and preparations for the games would begin.

Thalia and Ananias walked with him to where he would be outfitted and any last minute problems would be fixed. He asked to see Daphne, but Ananias told him that it wasn't allowed.

From the first time Niles saw what he was wearing, he knew that the arena was going to be cold. He was outfitted with wool socks under leather boots, as well as a darkly colored long sleeve shirt and pants.

Winter met up with him after this. "How is Daphne?" were Niles' first words to her. "Is she okay? Did she get enough sleep?" Winter only smiled. "She's fine. Come on, Niles, we have to get you on the hovercraft soon."

As they walked, Winter still talked to him, trying to squeeze in as many words of wisdom as she could before Niles was out there, open to death. "You haven't told her yet, have you?" she asked.

"No, I haven't. Every time I try to…the words don't come out like I want them to."

"Niles, please, tell her during the games. You won't be sorry, I promise you. The public and sponsors alike go crazy for this sort of thing. Not only that, she has a right to know."

"Alright, I will."

"Good. And Niles, stay calm. In the time I've gotten to know you, I've come to the conclusion that you tend to panic under enough pressure."

"Yes, that does tend to happen."

"Make sure it doesn't. You've got a great head, try to keep it clear."

"Right." Both stepped on to the elevator.

"And about the cornucopia…I don't really know what to tell you. Use your judgment. You can't really get supplies without paying a visit to it, but be careful. Watch your back. Watch Daphne's back, too. It's the one time you'll have all of the tributes in one place, all trying to get supplies at one time."

"Right. Got it."

The elevator doors opened and there laid the hovercraft to take Niles what he expected to be his death.

Peacekeepers arrived beside Niles and Winter.

Winter shook his hand and touched his shoulder. "The best of luck, Niles. I'm going to do the best I can to help you guys out."

"Thank you."

The Peacekeepers walked so close to him that it was uncomfortable, and Niles wanted to tell him that they needn't be here, that he wouldn't run, that he was here by choice.

On the hovercraft, he was seated with all of the other tributes, twelve on one side, twelve on the other. Niles was relieved to see Daphne, but noted that worry was carved into her face. They made eye contact for a brief moment, and Niles mouthed, _It's okay._ Daphne only nodded.

A woman came around to put tracker chips inside all of the tributes. Some winced, some kept their faces stone cold. Daphne shut her eyes tight and bit the top of her lip as it happened, and Niles looked up at the ceiling.

When that was over the lights were dimmed, and the hovercraft began to fly.

No one moved. No one spoke.

Thought the ride was smooth, everyone knew when it had stopped. More Peacekeepers came and escorted Niles to the room where he would be lifted into the games.

Thalia was there. She only smiled at Niles for a moment. "Here we are, Niles. Are you ready?"

"Perhaps."

She sighed. "You'll be fine. I know you will. You're so nice, Niles. So nice. And, oh, that way you love Daphne…she's so lucky. _I'm_ so lucky. I've gotten to dress you up and decide how you'll look…and now, I get to see you right before you head into the games."

Thalia put his coat around his shoulders. The material was lightweight, and had thin layer of insulation in it. "Heat-reflecting material," she said. "Very warm. And, the outside of it won't make noise when you move your arms."

Niles tried moving his arms back and forth and found this to be true.

"You should probably get in the tube now. Goodbye, sweet Niles." Thalia hugged him tightly, and he stepped into the tube. Not long after, the door closed and the pedestal began to rise.

The farther up Niles traveled, the colder he felt himself getting, until he found himself face to face with the arena.

The ground was covered in snow, and the sky above was cloudy. Trees surrounded them, and just in front of where they stood was the cornucopia.

He began to search for Daphne as the countdown commenced.

_Fifty-two, fifty-one, fifty, forty-nine…_

She was way on the other end of the line of pedestals, far away from Niles.

This would be difficult. He'd have to find some way to get to her through all of those tributes…

_Thirty-six, thirty-five, thirty-four, thirty-two…_

He had thirty seconds to devise a plan. Could he run behind the pedestals? _I've got no other choice. I have to get to Daphne without running it to any other people, _he thought.

_Twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty-one…_

This was it. Niles got ready and waited.

_Five, four, three, two, one…_


	10. Chapter 10

The gong sounded. Daphne knew what she had to do.

In a split second, she jumped off of her podium and started for the three backpacks that were not too far ahead of her.

She was almost there when she felt someone grab her shoulders from behind and spin her around. It was the male tribute from District 3, with a knife in his hand. With all of her strength, Daphne tried to push the knife away from her as it inched closer and closer to her chest.

It was no more than a centimeter away when Niles appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and his fist collided with the other tribute's face, and the unknown boy was on the ground, unconscious.

"Niles!" Daphne heard herself exclaiming.

Her mind snapped into place like a rubber band after this and she ran for the backpacks, which were surprisingly still untouched. She picked up two and yelled for Niles to get the other one. He obeyed her words and snagged the last pack, finding a bow and a set of arrows under this and taking those as well.

The two ran for the woods as fast as they could and did not stop for minutes, until they could not move any longer. Daphne was the first to lay her head in the ankle-deep snow, and Niles followed her example.

"Did I kill that man back there?" he asked.

"I don't know, but you knocked him out cold, that's for sure."

It was then that the cannons sounded, five in a row coming from somewhere off in the distance.

"We survived the bloodbath, Niles," Daphne said, smiling.

"Yes, we certainly did!"

"We should go through these packs and see what we need and what we don't. Hopefully there won't be a need for us to carry around three bags."

They immediately were glad they had managed to get all three bags. They found food, two empty water containers, three knives, a pair of gloves, three sleeping bags, some flint, coiled wire, and extra pair of wool socks, and three small, round pots.

"What on earth are these for?" asked Niles, holding up one of the pots.

"Cooking, I suppose," Daphne answered. "Although I don't know what we'd warm up in it."

They consolidated the three bags into two, then began moving.

"I guess we need to look for water," Niles said.

"Yes, that would be a good idea. Then we can relax for a little bit!"

This confused Niles somewhat. He wondered how it was possible for one to relax when there were seventeen people nearby wanting to kill you.

"Relax how?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know, but I love this snow. You know what, we should make a snowman!"

"A snowman?"

"Yes! Oh, my brothers and I love making them on a snowy day after our work is done."

"I don't know if I've ever made a snowman before."

"Well, once we've found water, I'll teach you."

They kept silent for a little while as they walked, looking and listening for a creek or a pond through the embrace of the trees. After about fifteen minutes, snow began to fall.

"It's beautiful!" Daphne exclaimed.

She smiled up at the sky as snowflakes caught in her dark hair. "Yes it is," Niles said, though not referring to the snow.

They walked for another quarter of an hour until finally they found a small stretch of a creek, though it was thickly frozen.

Daphne picked up a rock and tried to break the ice, but it was so thick that only small chunks broke off.

"How on earth do we get water? Everywhere we go it's going to be frozen like this."

"Can't we melt it somehow?" Niles asked.

"That's the only thing we can do, I suppose, but how? We could set it by a fire, but how would we collect the water if we did that?"

An idea sparked inside Niles' mind. "Daphne, those pots! Could they be to melt the ice in?"

"Yes, that must be it, then. Smarty pants," she said, giving him a playful shove. Niles smiled and shoved her back, though being as careful as he could not to hurt her.

They collected some chunks of ice, put them in the pans, and started walking to a someplace away from the water.

Daphne started a small fire because she knew how, and then she placed a stone in the middle of the flames. "We'll set the pan on the rock when it gets all heated up."

"Great idea," he said.

"I'm not looking forward to nighttime," Daphne began. "It's cold now, think of how it will be when the sun goes down. We won't be able to have a fire then, either."

"At least we have those sleeping bags. They look like they're made of the same material as these coats, so they should keep us pretty warm."

"You're right, it could be worse. I feel sorry for all those people who didn't get anything at the cornucopia. They'll be freezing tonight. You know, I think we're better off than most all of the tributes. I mean, we've got everything we need. Food, water, weapons, things to keep us warm…"

"And I've got you." Niles heard the words before he knew they were coming out of his mouth. Immediately he felt heat spread across his face like a growing flame, and he closed his eyes for just a second.

"I'm so glad you're here," Daphne whispered, and the light from the fire set her smiling face aglow.

Niles heart fluttered in his chest. "Daphne, I have to tell you something, and-"

"Oh, the rock!" She said before Niles could say anything. She found two long sticks and fished it out of the center of the fire. "Hand me a pan please, Niles," she instructed. Niles fulfilled her request silently.

"I'm sorry, Niles, were you going to say something?" Daphne asked.

"Nothing that can't wait," he said. He had lost all courage just like before.

A few minutes later, both of the tribute's water bottles were filled with enough water to last them for at least another day if they were prudent.

"Now," Daphne began, "to make that snowman."


	11. Chapter 11

"Daphne, are you sure you want to do this _now?" _Niles asked.

"Yes, why not?" she replied.

"Well, it just seems like maybe we should lie low and try to keep in the shadows."

"Niles, just because we're here doesn't mean we can't have a little fun. Besides, we've got nothing else to do. Come on."

Niles stared at the ground for a second. "Alright. Show me how to make this snowman."

Daphne smiled. "That's the spirit! First thing you do is roll a big ball out of the snow."

"And how do you do that?"

"Well, you make a small one with your hands and then start rolling it on the ground. I'll make the first one. It's the hardest, I've noticed."

When Daphne was done, she let Niles try his hand at the second layer. "That's perfect, Niles! Now we just need to put it on top of the first one."

Together they lifted it as gently as they could until they had two layers.

"Now we need to dress him up a bit. Give him some arms, a mouth, a nose, and eyes of course. All of that should be fairly easy to-"

She suddenly stopped everything and froze.

"Daphne?" Niles inquired, "What is it?"

"We've got to get out of here," Daphne whispered. "We've got to go now, kick some snow over the fire and I'll get our things."

"What's going on?"

"I've got a very uneasy feeling."

At that moment, the laughter of four sounded through the trees.

"The Careers," Niles whispered.

With the fire out and their bags on their backs, the two began to run.

It wasn't too long before both heard Wren shouting, "Hey! Nice snowman you made!"

"They don't know who made it. They've got no way of knowing. We just need to keep running," Daphne said.

And they did, until they happened upon the creek. Daphne grabbed Niles' hand and they both walked across and quickly and as carefully as possible. They could hear Maris laughing as they did, a sound that grew louder as they slowed down. "Who doesn't need me now?" she said loudly.

"They know who we are," Niles told her.

"What?"

"I'll explain later!"

At one point, they ran into Jack and Emilyann, who had apparently formed an alliance and were sitting by their own fire. "The Careers are coming," Daphne said softly.

Jack nodded with thanks, and they went to fetch their bags.

Niles and Daphne did not stop.

"When are we going to quit running?" Niles asked.

"When we lose them. We can't very well hide, we're making footprints, so they'd find us," was Daphne's reply.

And they ran until exhaustion began to slow them to a stop.

Just as before, they lied down in the snow and even took off their jackets.

Panting heavily, Niles managed the words, "Are you…okay?"

"Yes…fine…"

They were quiet until they had regained enough of their breath to speak.

"I'm so glad we lost them, but I don't think those other two were quite so lucky. I heard two cannons while we were running," Daphne said as she sat up.

"So did I," Niles replied, as he did the same.

Daphne looked up at the sky and squinted. "It's so hard to tell the time when the sky is all gray like this. What time do you suppose it is?"

"I think it was about noon when we started, so it might be about five o'clock now."

"I didn't realize it had been that long, but you're probably right. Since it's apparently winter here, it will probably be getting dark soon."

Niles nodded.

"So, what did Maris mean earlier when she yelled at you?" asked Daphne.

"Oh, well, during training she approached me and offered to provide a way that I could team up with the careers. I told her no thank you, and she got a little angry, I suppose."

"I see. Those people from District 2 scare me a bit. Have you seen their faces?"

"A tad emotionless, aren't they?"

"Yes, they're completely blank. What happened for them to be like that?"

"I don't know."

"I'll bet your brother would know. He's studying to be a psychiatrist, isn't he?"

"Yes. Every night he stays up studying by a flashlight so I can get some sleep."

"Not anything like my brothers. All of them are asleep the minute their heads find the pillow. They work all day, so I don't blame them. But me, I stay up for awhile, though not because I want to, but because I'm a thinker when I'm alone. I sit there usually for about a half hour or so, thinking about the day and what went wrong and what went right. My mind drifts to what I've got to do tomorrow and sometimes even who my friend Roz's latest boyfriend is. That changes all the time." Daphne chuckled. "And then, when I get really tired, my thoughts don't make any sense, and it's sort of like I'm dreaming. That's when I know to close my eyes, and before I know it the morning sun is getting in my eyes, and I've got to go help my mother with breakfast."

"That's lovely," Niles told her.

She smiled. "Thinking about that sort of makes me miss Roz. Do you know her?"

"I…yes, I know her."

"She's such a good friend."

"From what I've heard, she's good at a lot of things."

"I know she goes out with lots of guys, but once you get past that she really gives good advice. You know, she was the one who told me to stay close to you."

"Really?"

"Yes, when she came to say goodbye to me. I didn't really know what she meant at first, but now I know, and I'm happy I did. You're proving to be a wonderful companion."

"No Daphne, I don't know what I'd do without _you_ here."

"You owe that to _yourself. _I'd be dead right now if it weren't for you! You came and knocked that boy unconscious just as he was about to stab me right in the heart. Which reminds me, how did you do that? Pardon me for saying this, but I didn't know you were that strong!"

"I was furious at the man! To have the audacity to…to…" Niles stopped in his tracks before he said anything more.

"Well, I never thanked you for that."

Daphne scooted closer to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "That is for saving my life," she began, and then kissed him on the other cheek and added, "and that is for everything else, Niles Crane."

Niles felt the inside of him begin to boil over, both at the fact that Daphne was so close to him and that she had just given him not one, but _two _kisses.

As he started to cool off, he realized that he could barely see Daphne's beautiful face any longer, and the Capitol symbol appeared in the sky.


	12. Chapter 12

Seven faces appeared after the symbol, including Jack, Emilyann, and the boy from District 3.

When the pictures in the sky vanished, Niles and Daphne were left in darkness.

Niles was mystified at the fact that the boy he had punched hours before was now dead. _Surely it was not I who killed him,_ he thought. _He was knocked unconscious, so someone probably killed him after that._ He also knew that he would never know either way.

He dug in his bag and pulled out the sleeping bags. He gave one to Daphne and began to settle into one himself. She leaned her head against her own backpack and laid down.

"I'll take the first watch, Daphne," he said.

"Alright, but you wake me up as soon as you get tired," she told him.

After a few silent minutes, Daphne whispered, "I'm not sleepy."

"It _is_ early, in fact it's probably only about six o' clock," Niles whispered back.

"I just thought that after the day we've had I'd be ready to go to sleep by now."

"I see."

Daphne sighed. "This might sound a little strange, but really this is a very relaxing place. It's quiet, dark, and although it's cold outside, this sleeping bag is very warm."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Daphne, I must confess something to you. I find your positive outlook on this whole thing very refreshing. I admire you for it, in fact."

"Oh, well, I try to be like that all the time, but honestly I think that I'd be crying if I weren't already cried out."

Niles felt a pang of sorrow for her inside his chest. "When did you cry? I haven't seen you sad since the train ride."

"Mostly at night when I was alone."

"You could have come to me, Daphne."

She sighed. "I thought about it once."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was afraid, I suppose. I mean, I didn't want you to get tired of me. We were together all day, and I figured at night you probably wanted to be alone."

"Daphne, I would never tire of you."

"Well, I haven't gotten tired of you so far, so I guess we're okay!" She chuckled softly.

For the next few minutes, the absence of sound haunted Niles, and the fact that he could see nothing made things even worse. It would be difficult to keep watch under these circumstances.

"Daphne," Niles whispered.

"Yes?" She responded in a sleepy tone.

"Are you afraid?"

"Sort of, but I'm surprisingly calm considering. What about you?"

"Not really." He knew what would happen if anyone decided to attack them- Daphne wouldn't die. If he should die, so be it, but Daphne wouldn't die.

If Niles feared anything, it was the dagger he held in his hand. Earlier, he and Daphne had decided that it was best if they both kept one in their belt in case anything happened and they needed a weapon on short notice. He worried that having a knife that close would cause one of them to bleed, and in that case he knew he would pass out on the spot.

Now, he kept both hands on the weapon's handle, trying his best not to touch the blade.

The silence stretched out even further, and soon he heard Daphne's breathing become even and calm. He touched her on the arm briefly to see if she was asleep, and she neither stirred nor said anything.

So he sat there for hours, listening to her breathing and letting it fuel him to keep awake and to remember just why he was here and why he was doing this. It was a beautiful noise, so much so that it almost lured him to sleep.

He didn't know how long it was until daylight, but in his exhaustion, he shook Daphne's arm gently and whispered, "Daphne, can you take over?"

"Of course," she said, sitting up.

Niles grabbed his backpack to use as a pillow, then settled into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes.

Immediately, he found himself locked in Daphne's arms as she kissed him over and over again. It was unclear to him where they were, but it looked so peaceful and lovely, and color abounded. He did not know how many dreams he had had that were identical to this one, but in each one he knew he could have stayed forever.

He was awoken by Daphne shaking his arm as he did with her, and it took him just a minute to realize that he was no longer inside the dream. "Good morning," he told her.

"Good morning, Niles. We need to eat something. I just realized that we didn't eat anything all of yesterday."

Niles had definitely noticed, but had been afraid to say anything.

He sat up and took a look around. It was still dim, but he could already tell that the snow had gotten deeper, and as he ran his fingers through his hair he realized that it was covered with snowflakes.

"I know what we can have for dinner tonight. I just saw some geese flying overhead, so if we can find any of those they'll make a delicious meal," Daphne said, smiling at Niles eagerly.

They munched on some of the cold food they already had and drank some of the nearly-frozen water in their bottles, then put away their sleeping bags and began walking.

"Let's explore some today," Daphne said. "I'd like to see some more of this arena."


	13. Chapter 13

"So, what's our plan?"

"Do we ever have a plan? We either go hunting or kill them as we see them."

"Yeah, but don't you think it would be better to have a plan in case that doesn't happen? I mean, who are we going after first?"

"I say we get that blonde who says he doesn't need us. And that crazy "psychic" girl."

"Oh, she drives me insane!"

"Yeah, always smiling and all that crap. I just want to hurl when I'm around her."

"We can go after whoever we want, really, but I'm getting my hands on the blonde."

"Silver, what do you think?"

"There is a way we can get both."

"How?"

"We take the girl and bring her back here. You know the blonde is gonna come get her, since he's got some mad crush on her. When they're both at the same place, we can kill them both."

"Wouldn't it be easier to grab the boy? He's a lot weaker than the girl."

"If we took him, we'd _only _have him. We don't know that the girl would come running to get him."

"Whatever happens, _I'm getting the boy."_

"Yeah, we get it, Maris! Would you just shut up for a moment!"

"So, when do we do this?"

"We wait a few days. Both or one might die soon on their own and we'll be saved the trouble of having to do it at all."

"Alright. You in, Ruse?"

"I'm in."

"Maris?"

"Yeah."

"And I'm in, and Silver made the plan. So it's done."


	14. Chapter 14

Daphne and Niles walked for hours, seeing new parts of the snowy arena. They rested often, because the snow that now met the bottom of their shins was difficult to walk through. "I hope it doesn't get any deeper," Daphne said. Niles nodded.

To him, walking with Daphne was very pleasurable, and as usual she did most of the talking. She told Niles about how beautiful the snow and even the frozen water was, and what kinds of trees were the best to climb. She even described a strange dream she had had the night before in which she lived in one room and tended to a cranky old man with a cane. "It was funny, the man sort of looked like your father. Strange."

He would never dare tell her about the dream that he had had, at least not until he had told her about his feelings.

That reminded him that that still needed to be done.

"Daphne," he said. "Here, come sit with me. I have to talk to you."

"Alright."

They sat down on a log that had fallen. Niles would have wiped it off for them, but he had no handkerchief.

"I've been wanting to tell you this for so long, but the words haven't sounded right or I haven't had the courage."

He paused, and Daphne looked at him curiously.

Niles took a deep breath, then shoved the words out of his mouth. "I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too, Niles."

Niles was beside himself with happiness until he realized that she had misunderstood him. "Daphne, what I mean is I'm _in _love with you."

Her face suddenly turned white and she whispered, "_Oh."_

"I've felt that way ever since I first saw you. You're beautiful. You're _more _than beautiful, and I can't stop thinking about you."

Her eyes were glued to the ground, as if she were afraid to look Niles in the eye.

"I…I volunteered to protect you. I couldn't bear the thought of you being killed like all those other people that get pulled into these games."

Daphne's eyes pulled up and met Niles' for a moment. "That's…lovely," she whispered, so soft Niles barely heard it.

Nothing happened for a whole minute, until with a sudden burst Daphne stood up. "We should get moving," she told Niles.

"Daphne?"

"Just give me some time to think about it, alright?" She said, smiling subtlety to show him she was not upset.

"Of course."

They grabbed their bags and began walking.

Their trip was a lot quieter this time. Daphne talked, but not as often, and there was something different about her tone of voice. She did not mention what Niles had just told her, though he would have liked nothing more than to talk to her about it.

Both were surprised with how peaceful the day was going. Around what they guessed to be four o' clock, Daphne announced, "I think it's time for us to be looking for that goose!"

Niles smiled, having never personally tried goose before.

"They'll probably be around the creek, which is silly seeming as how the water's frozen," she said. "But, they are just geese, I suppose."

Daphne led both of them to the creek, and they stayed inside the shelter of the trees to look for a fat goose.

"That one'll do," she whispered, pointing to a tall, male bird with darker feathers.

Slowly, she took the bow and one arrow from her back and drew it carefully, then let it go so fast Niles barely saw a thing. The goose collapsed, and the rest of the flock flew away.

She smiled at Niles excitedly, then ran to the bird and pulled out the arrow in its side. Taking it by the neck, she told him that they probably would need to melt some more ice for drinking, and took out the small pots and filled them with chunks of frozen water.

They found a good spot for stopping, and Daphne started the fire. As she did, Niles stared at the limp bird. "Have you ever cleaned a goose before, Daphne?" he asked her.

"No, actually, but I've seen my brothers do it so many times it feels like I have." When she was done with the fire, she sat next to Niles. "Now, the first thing we need to do is pull out all of his feathers." She began doing so, but Niles only looked at it, afraid to touch it knowing how dirty it was.

Daphne noticed this, and she reached in her bag and pulled out the one pair of gloves they had, then handed them to him. He smiled gratefully and began to help her.

Soon, the poor bird was pink and featherless. Daphne turned to her companion and said, "Can you hand me the extra knife?" He did as she asked, then waited for instruction.

Softly, she put her hand on his shoulder, and Niles' heart beat in his ears as she did. "You may not want to watch this part, it gets sort of messy," she warned.

"Thank you. Oh, here, take the gloves," he said, taking them off of his hands and trying not to touch the outside any more than he had to.

Grinning, she put them on and Niles turned his back to her.

He heard her humming while she worked, and he smiled at this lovingly.

"Alright, I'm going to throw what's left into the trees now."

Niles nodded and heard it whizzing through greenery.

"Would you like me to cook it with your back still turned?" she asked.

"Do you need help?"

"I'll be alright."

"Then yes, please."

If it had been any other situation, Niles would have helped her anyways.


	15. Chapter 15

"Daphne, this tastes wonderful," Niles said as he ate his portion of goose.

"Thanks, but I didn't really do much to it," Daphne answered. "My mother cooks the best bird you'll ever taste with all sorts of spices and such on it."

When they were finished eating, they put out the fire and settled into their sleeping bags as the final stretches of daylight faded. Only two faces were shown in the sky, and then full darkness took over.

"I'll watch first this time, Niles," Daphne offered.

"No, that's alright. You need your rest."

"But you do too! Last night you only slept for about three hours, and I don't know if you slept at all the night before that!"

"Please Daphne, just let me do this."

She was silent for a moment. "Okay," she whispered.

Perhaps it was due to the amount of walking they had done that day, but Daphne was ten times more tired then she had been the previous night. She tried to imagine what Niles must have been feeling, and she wondered why he wouldn't just let her help him out.

Then her mind drifted to what he had told her earlier in the day._ You're more than beautiful, and I can't stop thinking about you._ _I couldn't bear the thought of you being killed like all those other people…_

What was he thinking? Volunteer to go to this terrible place just to somehow save her? According to the premonition she had had, she could not be saved. It was incredibly sweet and honorable for him to do this for her, but…

As all of this ran swiftly through her mind, she heard herself blurting out, "So…you really love me?"

"Oh, yes I do. Very much."

"You must love me an awful lot to be here with me."

"I do."

"Putting yourself in danger for me…"

She could not explain it, but suddenly her heart beat faster and nervousness overcame her.

She shut her eyes tightly and tried to forget that feeling. "Goodnight, Niles," she whispered.

"Goodnight, Daphne. I hope you sleep very well."

"Thank you."

Trying to calm herself, she began to think of the day she had spent alone on the far stretches of the district, looking out past the electric fence and seeing the meadows abounding with the droplets of wildflowers, feeling the perfect breeze kiss her face and lying her head in the grass. She had never felt better at that moment.

As for now, everything felt very, very wrong. She was cold, separated from her family, and the only thing that made her feel at peace, Niles, had just told her that he loved her. _Very much. _It made her feel so strange and almost frightened. It also made her feel something else…something she could not yet identify.

She would be dead in a matter of days. This also scared her, but she was glad she knew her fate.

The last thing she saw before she drifted off to sleep was what her vision had shown her, a knife sticking out of her chest and her body lying lifelessly in the snow.

* * *

Niles awoke her in the middle of the night, asking her to please keep watch while he slept. She complied and sat up, leaving her upper body cold once more. She felt her numb cheeks and they felt like the chunks of ice they melted for water.

Her throat was dry, so she began to search for the water bottle in her bag. When her hands stumbled upon it, she gasped and cringed as she held the freezing cold metal in her hands and drew it to her lips. She drank slowly, and as she stopped and pulled it away, she realized that she felt no better.

This was hell.

Daphne didn't want to cry. After all, she had been doing so well. She had not cried last night or the night before, but now she felt like she could not help it anymore.

The tears went slowly down her cheeks and brought brief warmth to them before they turned to hard ice plastered to her skin. Sobs wrenched themselves from deep inside her as if they were being called up from someplace far away and were bitter towards her for making them travel. She tried to be quiet so as not to wake Niles, but that proved to be unsuccessful in a matter of minutes.

"Daphne?" he whispered. "Daphne, what is it?"

Desperate, she reached out for him and he grabbed her hand and held it, and with his other hand her touched her face and felt the stiff tears.

"Oh, Daphne…"

"Niles, I'm sorry…"

"No. No, no, don't be sorry."

He pulled her close to him and hugged her softly, not saying anything.

Daphne suddenly felt so much warmer than before, and she rested her head on his shoulder as the tears stopped.

"You need more sleep," he whispered.

"No. I'll be fine. I promise you."

They just sat there for a moment, not wanting to move out of the warm embrace they were tucked safely inside.

When they did separate, Niles lay back down and Daphne drifted back to her spot in the warm grass, watching the warm sun dye the wildflowers their many colors.


	16. Chapter 16

Daphne woke Niles up a little after sunrise, then began to make a fire the best she could.

They both ate, and as Niles looked at Daphne he realized that the frozen tears on her face were still there. "Here," he said. "We should melt those off." He found a rock and put it in the middle of the fire, and after a few minutes, he took out a pan and placed water from his own bottle in it.

"What are you doing?" Daphne asked.

"Heating water for your face," he said.

"But we could have gotten some ice or we could have just used the snow."

"I don't mind, Daphne, really."

He then took the extra pair of socks they had and dipped one in the warm water, then gave it to her. She rubbed it against her face and smiled, then dried it with the dry portion of the sock. "Thank you. You know, you really should try that. It's the warmest I've felt since we got here."

Niles only nodded.

That day, he found that Daphne was back to being her usual self, talking endlessly about whatever popped into her mind. Most found this annoying, he knew, but he loved it and could listen to it all day.

"So there's my brother Michael, up as high as you please in the tree, and I had to go get him! That was no small task. All the while, my mum was looking up at us, shaking her head. I miss mum. I told you she makes good goose, right? Well once, when my brothers were off trying to catch one, she showed me how to make it, but typical me, I forgot the next day!" She laughed. "Oh, mum gave me a hard time for weeks about that one, and I still don't remember!" Her laughter raced through the trees once again. "I'll bet you miss your family, too. Your brother, and your father… I didn't know them all that much, but they were nice when I did happen to talk to them."

"They always liked you," Niles said.

She said nothing for a moment. "Did they know..."

"I never told them, but I think they figured it out."

Footsteps were the only sound they heard for awhile, and Niles could tell Daphne was lost in thought. At midday, they stopped for a rest and it began to snow softly.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of someone approaching slowly and carefully. Both stood up and Daphne readied the bow.

MaryBeth emerged from the trees, and she stepped back immediately when she saw them, minding her distance.

She looked dazed and tired, and there was a long, bleeding scratch on her face that reached from the corner of her eye to her lip.

"Don't go back there," she whispered. "That's were the Careers are, and I barely got out alive myself." MaryBeth smiled briefly before the tears began to run down her face, and they mixed with the blood that was already there and soon after froze. Daphne lowered the loaded bow, got the quiver of arrows from her back, and held them out to her. Niles grabbed Daphne's arm as she reached out and took it. "Thank you," she got out through her tears. "Thank you so much."

And she turned and walked away.

Once she was gone, Daphne turned to Niles and said, "I'm sorry, but I figured it was her only chance of staying alive, and we've got our knives and more than we need."

"Daphne, I'm not upset. That was very sweet of you." He had not moved his hand away from her arm, and she looked down at it for a second, not moving. Then, in a split second, she stepped away from him, announcing, "Well, we should start moving in the other direction if the Careers are that way."

"Okay," Niles said softly, and he began to follow her.

* * *

That night, Daphne prepared another goose for dinner, and Niles insisted again on taking the first shift.

One face was shown in the sky, making the number of tributes in the arena fourteen.

Daphne felt at peace that night. She did not feel like talking to Niles, but it was very comforting knowing that he was feet away from her, watching the night just for her.

She smiled at this thought.

Niles began to thunder through her head suddenly. His wonderful smile. His charming eyes. The way he cared for her so deeply, the way he promised to protect her.

These were her final thoughts before drifting off.

Softly, she began to vividly dream about a warm night and the smell of jasmine…or was it orange blossoms? A blue dress, a small hotel, doors that kept opening…

It would make no sense to her when she woke up, but one thing would be clear about it.

In her dream, was hopelessly in love with Niles Crane.


	17. Chapter 17

Niles awoke that morning to thankfully find that it had not snowed overnight. As usual, he and Daphne ate breakfast then set out walking.

The sun was out that day, and it was the first time they had seen it since their arrival. Rays stretched through the branches and leaves and struck the snow, making it sparkle like a brand new wedding ring. Both hoped it might melt some of the ice or snow, but the fact that it was still freezing cold out dimmed that hope.

Everything was like it had been for days. Daphne talked as they traveled, and Niles added little things here and there. They looked for things to eat, melted more ice, and went on walking.

A little after noon, Daphne announced, "I don't think we've ever been to this part of the arena before. The trees are a lot thinner, and I think the ground is a lot rockier."

Niles agreed. Something was off, but he couldn't tell what. He listened and watched for other tributes, but he heard and saw nothing.

The farther they went, the more extreme these conditions got, until finally they reached a clearing in the trees.

In front of them laid a large, deep chasm in the shape of the letter C. It was covered with trees on all sides, and in the middle of it stood a long, stone arch covered in snow that connected the two farthest sides. This sort of bridge was now directly in front of them, and it looked so easy to climb up on.

"Well, do you want to go across?" Daphne asked.

Niles took one look at the drop from the arch to the ground and slowly shook his head.

"I normally would say no, too, but remember, there's force fields at the bottom, so we can't fall," she said.

He said nothing until Daphne took hold of his hand and looked at him in the most beautiful way.

"Well, alright," he said with a smile.

Niles noticed that she did not let go of his hand.

As wide as the arch was, he insisted on staying near the middle.

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Niles?"

"Yes, I…I suppose it is."

And as soon as he let a smile appear on his face, that's when it happened.

They both heard the low rumble, and as they shot each other a look, the ground beneath them began to shake severely.

Then the arch began to fall.

Apparently, the force fields had been revoked, because stones were falling all the way to the ground.

Their hands were torn away from each other as they began to run as fast as they could, still feeling the ground shake under them. Niles kept looking at Daphne, making sure that she was still there, that she was still running.

The third time he looked, she wasn't.

She was on the ground, with blood running from the bottom of her leg on to the sparkling snow.

"Run, Niles!" she screamed. "Go!"

Niles didn't think. He ran to her and picked her up, then began to run again. He did not know how he had gotten the strength to hold Daphne and run even faster than before, but he had, and at the last moment they both fell in the snow on the other side of the chasm, away from all unsteady ground.

Both breathed heavily, their faces red and their hearts racing. Niles sat up after a minute or so.

"Daphne, are you-"

Before he could finish, Daphne picked herself up from the ground and rushed her lips to his.

The slate of worry, hatred, and sadness he had been bearing ever since Daphne's name had been reaped was wiped away momentarily for him. How could he think about those things now, when her lips…Daphne was…

…kissing him.

When she finally let go and rested a few inches from his face, he said softly, "Are you okay?"

She could only smile and kiss him again.

After they had separated, Daphne pulled her leg close to her and had a close look at it. The wound was just above her ankle, and it was still bleeding, soaking the bottom of her pant leg.

"Does it hurt?" Niles asked.

She nodded.

"What happened?" he said.

"I was running, and I tripped over this sharp rock, and when I fell it must have gone into my leg. Niles, what are we going to do?"

"Well, we'll just make sure that you stay off it, and that you get plenty of rest."

"Alright. I feel like such an idiot. It _would_ be me who would let this happen, and after we both were doing so well!"

"No, Daphne, this isn't your fault."

"I was the one who suggested we go out on that stupid arch, anyways! You didn't want to!"

"But you didn't know."

She sighed. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Now, it's not safe here, we should go find a place in the trees to set up camp."

As Niles helped her up, they both stood to see a parachute flying towards them, and when he went to open it up its cargo, inside were medicine and a bandage.

"So soon?" Daphne asked, smiling.

"They must really like you," Niles told her.

"They must really like _us," _she said.

And the two smiled at each other warmly.


	18. Chapter 18

Niles helped Daphne to a safe place in the trees, then she started a fire and laid down on her sleeping bag.

She began to place the medicine on her wound, then wrapped it up with the bandage and sighed. "I guess that's all I can do for right now besides keep off of it the best I can. Niles, would you like to go and get some goose for us?"

He looked at her and sighed. "Daphne, you've seen me try to throw a knife. Besides, I'm not leaving you alone."

She smiled. "I'll be alright, and so will you!"

"I'm afraid we'll just have to go without our goose tonight, if you don't mind too much," Niles told her apologetically.

"I don't mind. We are getting low on the food in our bags, though. I guess we'll go and get some tomorrow. We've got no other choice. Hopefully the medicine will do its work and I'll feel a bit better."

Niles nodded. "What are we going to do for the next few hours?" he asked eventually.

"I suppose just sit here. We can finish off what food we've got, unless you'd like to save that for the morning."

"No, we can finish it off now. There's nothing else to do."

So, they ate, and Daphne fell asleep soon after, even before it was dark.

Niles sat alone with his thoughts from that moment until morning. His plan was to let Daphne sleep the whole night through, and with that thought he knew that the next few hours would be long. It wasn't until full darkness had set in that he realized there had been no anthem or Capitol insignia in the sky. No one had died today. Fourteen still remained in this arena.

With each day, he became more and more nervous. The less tributes in the arena, the more he and Daphne would be targeted, and the more they were targeted, the more they would have to fight and kill for their lives. Niles began to wonder for the first time if he really could protect Daphne from, say, the Careers. He was no fighter, and everyone knew it. And now, with her injury, there was a lessened chance Daphne could defend herself.

Thinking about what had happened that day lead him to think about the kiss Daphne had given him. He smiled just picturing it, how for just a brief moment he had forgotten everything.

_Daphne kissed me. Twice, _he kept repeating to himself, over and over again. It had to mean what he had always dreamed about- she had feelings for him.

Certainly, the rest of the games were going to be emotionally easier on him now. Maybe he could hope for another kiss soon. After all, romance did please the audience.

* * *

Daphne awoke the next morning to find Niles softly brushing snowflakes from her face, and she smiled at him as he quickly drew his hand away. She sat up and noticed that the snow was deeper now, and it still continued to fall steadily.

At that moment, she realized that she had slept the whole night through. "Niles, why didn't you wake me up and let me keep watch?"

"You needed your rest to let your leg heal. Besides, I didn't mind."

She sighed. "Tonight you've got to let me do the same for you."

"But Daphne-"

"Niles, please. I'm worried about you. Besides, my leg is already feeling better. The medicine must really doing its job." She pulled her leg out of her sleeping bag and carefully unwrapped the bandage to look at the wound. It looked much better than it had the day before, but a dull ache still surrounded it.

"Do you think you could walk on it?" Niles asked her.

She shook her head. "I don't think so. It's too sore. Tomorrow, maybe."

"What would you like to do today?"

"Well, like I said yesterday, we need food. I'd like to stay here for at least the morning and relax, but then after that we can go looking for some. If we can find a creek, I can get us another goose and we can fill our bottles again."

"Sounds good."

They sat there for a little while, watching the snow and looking up at the treetops. Daphne brewed over that fact that Niles hadn't woke her up to let himself sleep. It made her mad and desperately lovesick at the same time.

On one hand, he hadn't gotten much sleep in days and needed his rest just as much as she did.

On the other hand, it made her crazy to know that Niles loved her so much he was willing to sacrifice his sleep and so many other things…

…all for her.

No boy had ever felt that way. Sure, there had been some who had had little crushes, but none like this. None of the others would have ever volunteered to save her and risked his life to save hers…twice.

Daphne could have thought about it all day.

She kept looking over at Niles, and he at her, so that their eyes often met suddenly. They would laugh every time, the return their eyes to the sky or the ground.

It was a lovely morning for the both of them, but soon they decided it was time to get up and get that day's work finished.


	19. Chapter 19

Niles and Daphne kept steady arms around each other as they traveled, trying to find water and some suitable food. Early afternoon they located a small pond, Daphne was able to kill a fat goose, and Niles found some edible snowberries.

They ate early that day, awhile before darkness would fall. They were able to save some berries and obtain some more water before moving on.

Two hours before night, both were still traveling, trying to move away from the part of the arena they had been in for too long. After a quarter of an hour had passed, the snow picked up into a thick mass of large snowflakes. No wind blew, but everything was so white that soon Niles was finding it difficult to make out Daphne's eyes, even though they were but inches away from his face. They could see hardly anything of their surroundings, but they knew when they had reached a clearing in the trees, perhaps the place where the cornucopia sat.

As they walked across it, they squinted their eyes, trying to make out trees that would lend them shelter. For minutes they saw nothing.

Daphne wasn't quite sure what happened next. It seemed for a moment that whiteness covered her eyes, as if snow had snaked its way into them and blocked her line of vision. When she had recovered, she could not feel Niles next to her anymore, but instead she felt the hands of another pulling her somewhere.

Somewhere, she could hear Niles screaming her name at the top of his lungs. She reached for her waist and tried grab her knife, but it took several tries before she was able to. Once it was in her hand, she thrust it backwards, but whoever was holding her captive only tightened their grip.

As much as she fought, Daphne kept being dragged farther and farther away until finally she was able to free one arm and elbowed the person in the gut. When a hand grabbed her and began to pull her once more, she grabbed her knife and threw it into her captor's body like a well-executed punch. Moments later, she felt nothing, and vaguely she could see blood running into the deep white snow and the sound of a cannon.

"DAPHNE!" she heard Niles scream, ten times louder than before. She began to run towards the sound as fast as she could with her injured leg and the now knee-deep snow. It was like a burst of sudden energy that propelled her the short distance she made it, until unexpectedly she fell face first and felt the snow pierce her skin.

She moved her arms slowly and tried to push them to the ground to get herself up, but before she could, Daphne felt gentle hands lifting her upwards. There was no need for her to worry. There was no questioning whose hands these were.

The snow had not lightened any, but Daphne could feel the front of their bodies touching, and though she could not see Niles' face, she soon found where his lips were.

When they had released each other and opened their eyes, the snow had stopped entirely. Both could see the other's faces, and they smiled huge smiles of joy.

"I thought I lost you!" Niles exclaimed, touching Daphne's face softly. "Did they hurt you?" he asked.

"No, but I don't know why. I don't even know who it was." They looked over to where the body should have been, but the hovercraft had already taken it. However, the stain of blood still remained.

They found a good spot for camp just before dark came and the anthem began to play.

Wren's face was the only one shown in the sky.

"A Career," Daphne whispered. "I don't understand, why didn't he try to kill me?"

"Perhaps he couldn't bear to hurt an angel."

"You're sweet, Niles."

They got into their sleeping bags and reclined without a word.

"Remember, you're sleeping all night long tonight," Daphne whispered again.

"No, please-"

"_Niles!" _she said, louder than she should have.

"Alright," he said.

"Besides, I don't think I could sleep tonight. My heart's still pounding."

"Mine is too, but I think I'm just tired enough to sleep through it."

"Goodnight, Niles."

"Goodnight, Daphne."


	20. Chapter 20

Niles slept all the way through the night, and Daphne didn't wake him right at sunrise as she had been doing for the past few days. He woke up on his own between breakfast and lunch.

The morning was uneventful. Daphne decided her leg was well enough to walk on, and though the snow was deep, she was able to manage without Niles' help.

There was an unusually high number of cannons fired that morning. They heard the first, then the second, then the third, all within two hours time. The fourth came the next hour. It worried both, but all went well for those first few hours.

In fact, nothing happened until early afternoon.

"Can we rest, Niles?" Daphne asked. "I'm sorry to ask again."

"It's no trouble at all, Daphne. I will always stop if you need to."

She smiled brightly and sat down in the deep snow next to Niles. Slowly, she laid back and looked up at the awning of treetops above, covered in white like lace. Niles saw her and did the same, daring to come as close as to touch her shoulder to his. Their eyes met briefly, and they smiled at each other quietly, until they heard the sound of people approaching them from the path they had just taken. They raced for their feet and took a hard grip on their knives as Silver and Maris revealed themselves.

In Maris' hand was the bow and arrow, the very same one Niles and Daphne had in their possession days before. She loaded it as she and Silver began to run towards them in full speed. Maris aimed the bow at Niles' chest, smiling evilly knowing that at this moment she had all the power.

Daphne saw from a distance the girl with the vengeful eyes hurdling towards her, and as she tried to put her knife in her chest like she had with Wren, but she felt that same hand being pulled to the side and soon she found her weapon ripped from her hands and her head in a lock against Silver's stomach, her own dagger under her chin. The metal felt so cold on her, and as she gasped for air it stripped her throat of all moisture.

Niles watched all of this in horror, and Maris only laughed when she saw his expression. She had lowered her bow and stood next to Silver, facing him. "What are you gonna do?" she asked him. "Are you gonna _save _her? Are you gonna _get us _with that _knife?" _Her tone was sharp and grounding, and she spoke as if Niles were a pathetic little child. "I've seen you throw a knife, you know. We're not afraid of you!" She laughed again.

"What do you want?" he asked, ready to give her all he had, including his life.

Maris only smiled, then whispered, _"_I want to see you _suffer."_

She paused to let the words hang dramatically. "She's going to die. You're going to watch. And then when we're done…you're dead. It's a piece of cake. We've taken four today already. We're not about to stop now."

Kneeling down next to Daphne, she said, "And I'll bet you're the annoying little brat who killed Wren yesterday, huh? I'll bet you think you can take anyone now. Well, _you can't!"_ Maris then kicked her in the legs and Daphne winced briefly.

Anger then propelled Niles as he swept himself away from his place in the snow and shoved Maris down, grabbing her bow and placing his foot on top of her chest. "_How dare you touch her!" _he screamed and ever so quickly extended and released the arrow, and it fell in to her and killed her almost instantly.

He flipped around and saw Silver about to let the dagger touch Daphne's neck, but as she did Niles pried it out of her hands and let it slip right into where her heart was. Silver was gone before her head touched the snow.

Daphne fell into Niles' arms with quick breaths, feeling his cold cheek against hers. "Oh, Daphne," Niles whispered as he put his arms around her and pulled her in deeper. "I love you," he said suddenly. "I love you too," she said back.

They collected the bow and arrows from Maris and took some knives from Silver's belt, as well as the one in her heart.

Then, they were on their way once more.


	21. Chapter 21

At the end of the day, when darkness came and the capital symbol floated in the sky, it was revealed that a total of six people had been killed that day, more than the bloodbath had claimed.

The last face shown was MaryBeth's, and Niles and Daphne sighed as they saw it. No wonder Maris had the bow and arrows earlier; she had probably pried them from MaryBeth's dead hands.

Niles said goodnight to Daphne and then braced himself for the next few hours. It was strange to think that even though he still worried, only six other people remained in the arena. That meant that only seven people were standing in the way of Daphne's victory, though unfortunately most of them would not die on there own. It was likely that Niles and Daphne would have to fight for their safety…or rather, Daphne's.

That was when he heard the sound, the crunching of snow and the rustling of leaves. He got to his feet. "Who's there?" he asked.

"_Shh…" _he heard. _"You don't want to wake your little sweetheart, do you?" _The faint whisper didn't sound like any tribute he knew of, but it was as if he knew the voice from elsewhere, but where? _"Who are you?" _Niles whispered back to her.

"_I'm Melinda, but call me Mel."_

"_Mel?"_

"_Yes. I have a proposition. I'll help you if you'll help me."_

"_You mean an alliance?"_

"_What else? Look, I know why you're here why you volunteered, and I know your skills. You need all the help you can get. I need supplies. Take it or leave it."_

"_I don't know, I have to speak to-"_

"_Whatever. Don't wake her up. Listen, I'll come back here tomorrow morning sometime. If you want to take advantage of this offer I'll stay, otherwise we'll let each other go and not say another thing about it. Deal?"_

"_Deal."_

* * *

When Niles began to feel heavy, he gently shook Daphne awake and she began to take watch. Waiting and being aware of the night did something strange to her. If she stood still and kept her eyes open, it was as if her body dissolved into the cold and darkness and only her thoughts remained.

She reflected on what she had said to Niles earlier that day, that she loved him. She did. Carefully, she reached over and stroked his hair, not even thinking that he might still be awake.

But he was.

And when Daphne was not expecting it, he took her hand and began to kiss it, and she felt her cheeks go hot. She began to move herself over until they were side by side. Niles had not stopped kissing her hand just yet, and she was not about to stop him. When he did, he smoothed over the top of it and held it in his as he tried to sleep.

What a rush things had been since they had been put into these games. Death, injuries, tears, and professions of love. No doubt she had had more excitement in the past week than she had had in her entire life.

Niles had helped her with these things. With all of her heart she hoped that he would go on to win after her death. He did deserve it, after all. The boy had done so much for her and for everyone, and it only seemed fair that he should live.

For the rest of the night she thought about the same things as the seconds, minutes, and hours ran together until sunrise.

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry that this chapter was so short and that it wasn't exactly exciting, but the next chapter will be better! Thanks for hanging in there and continuing to read this story! (Twenty-one chapters already, gee whiz! I wasn't expecting it to be this long.)**


	22. Chapter 22

Niles woke up by himself that morning, just before the time Daphne was about to wake him up herself. "I guess you're getting used to sleeping here," she said to him.

"I suppose so," he said, and for the first time remembered the visitor that had come the night before. "Daphne?"

"Yes?"

"What would you think about taking up an alliance with someone?"

"What do you mean?"

He began to tell her about Mel and what she had to say. "She wants to help us, if we can share what we have with her. It couldn't hurt to have more help."

Daphne looked uneasy. "That sounds fine, but something about it isn't sitting well with me. I…don't think it's a good idea."

"Alright. If you don't think it's the right thing to do, we won't do it." But inside, Niles wasn't so sure. He did not know who Mel was since he had not seen her face, but most everyone had gotten a better score than he had. Having her on their side would help him to protect Daphne.

But he wanted to do nothing that would make her feel nervous, so he decided that when Mel came this morning he would have to tell her no.

And on that thought, there she was, hidden slightly in the trees, perhaps in the same place she had been last night.

"Hello, Mel."

"Hello, Niles. Daphne."

"Daphne and I have talked it over, and we don't think it would be the right thing for us to do. I'm sorry."

Niles' heart began to sound like a fist on a door in his ears. According to Mel, she was now going to retreat and they would pretend that they had never had this meeting. However, was she being truthful?

"Well, someway I'm going to get what I want."

At that moment, he could feel his arm go numb with instant pain, and he collapsed.

* * *

Daphne saw what Mel had done immediately and picked up her bow and quiver of arrows and shot it one, two, three times. All were misses, and Mel was running towards her faster than she could tell. In an instant the bow was torn from Daphne's hands and she was being pinned to the ground. She struggled to get up and on to her feet, but Mel appeared to be stronger than she was. "Give it up, sweetheart," she whispered as she reached for another knife, raised it about a foot above Daphne's chest…

As she saw the knife about to come down into her, she saw the flash of herself dead in the snow. _This is it, _she thought. _This is how I'm going to die. _Then she saw Niles. If no one were there to take care of him and help him after the major injury he had just suffered, he surely would die.

In one thrust of all her might, Daphne pushed Mel off of her and on to the ground below her. Mel struggled still, her teeth clenched ferociously. Daphne was losing her strength quickly, but she could tell that Mel was not.

As she drew her knife from her belt, a wave of panic rose up in her, referring to what she was about to do. In the back of her mind, Daphne saw her knife sweeping across Mel's throat so swiftly and so quickly.

Mel went limp. Her only motion was a soft, slow blinking, her neck soon a deep red.

Unexpectedly, tears welled in Daphne's eyes, and soon, she began to weep hysterically. She hovered over Mel and told her over and over again, "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…" until the cannon sounded.

Her mind went completely blank for a moment. For just a careful second she was that girl that all of the old ladies smiled at in District 8. She had many a good friend, but boys mostly paid her no mind.

But the dream ended when she heard her name.

* * *

Niles was having trouble seeing. Everything was gray and white, and he could feel nothing from his right arm.

His thoughts were clouded, and the words were whispers. _Daphne, Daphne, Daphne…_

Something deep inside told him she was in danger, and that he had to do something about it. He tried to say her name, but he didn't know if it went through or not. He said it again, and again, and again.

Suddenly, he could see her face as clear as a summer creek, tears frozen on her face. Niles could make out what she was saying to him well enough.

"Niles, Niles..." Daphne was now doing something to his arm, taking something away, but what? When he saw a bloodly knife in her hands, suddenly he understood. He could feel her take off his jacket and his shirt, and what normally would have thrilled him meant nothing. Niles saw her take his shirt and wrap it around his arm like a bandage. Her tears began to come again. Tenderly, she wrapped him in his jacket, then started a fire close by him.

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Daphne's head against his bare chest, her body jerking with hard sobs, her lips saying to him, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"


	23. Chapter 23

Daphne knew right away that Niles was not dead, but she hurt so much it almost felt as if he was. She stayed there crying on his chest for a long time, not knowing what on earth she should do. Mel still lay there while the blood on her neck froze or hard dried to her skin. Daphne hated looking at what she had done, so near dark she grabbed Mel's wrist and dragged her to where she could not be seen so that the hovercraft could take her away.

Right before Niles had blacked out, she had tried to explain to him that he needed a bandage, and that his shirt would have to do at the moment, but she did not know if he had heard her. She had not seen so much blood in her entire life, all of it coming out of one place in Niles' arm. It was a good thing that Mel had had a bad aim when she threw that knife, because if not…

The next few days for Daphne were uneventful and boring. She tried not to sleep, but every once and awhile she drifted off. Thankfully, a small stretch of a creek was close by for water, and a small patch of winter-thriving berries was located just inside the trees. It was easy for her, but for Niles it was difficult. The medicine Daphne used on her leg was helping his arm, but without a bandage she feared it might get infected. Keeping his body warm proved difficult to, since she wanted to keep his arm uncovered and his shirt was off. All she could do was make sure that a fire burned near him and that he was wrapped in his jacket as much as possible. She tried draping his sleeping bag over him, but it did little. When she could she gave him her jacket as well, but then she became cold and could barely stand it.

While he was knocked out she only heard one cannon, meaning including them there were six tributes left.

Finally, on the third day, Niles stirred and awoke. Without a word, Daphne made him drink some water and eat some berries. "How are you? Are you alright?" were his first words to her. She responded with tears. "Are you hurt?" he asked again.

"No," she said. "But Niles…" she motioned to his right arm. He looked at it, and when he saw the blood he felt as if he might pass out again. "I'm just so sorry," she whispered. "All of this is my fault."

He shook his head. "No, Daphne, you saved me."

"But if I hadn't made you say no to Mel…"

"That doesn't matter. What happened? Did she try and hurt you?"

"Yes, but I got her before she could."

"What a wretched little…"

"Oh, Niles, you should have seen the awful way I killed her! There was so much blood all over her neck, and she couldn't talk or move or do anything. Since I got here I've sent two people to their graves, Niles, and I hate it!" Just like before, she began to cry hard on his chest. With his left arm he smoothed her hair. "It's not your fault, Daphne. You had no other choice. God knows that if those people hadn't been after you, you never would have caused them any harm. You've done nothing wrong."

She just sat and cried until her tears would not come anymore. Niles kissed the top of her head softly and soon after realized that she had fallen asleep. He wondered just how long it had been since she had slept. She looked so tired.

He let her sleep until she woke up on her own in the middle of the night. "Niles," she whispered. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"How long had it been since you slept?" She was silent and got in her sleeping bag, then gave Niles his.

Daphne sat up to take watch for Niles. Just before he dozed off, he asked her, "How long was I unconscious?"

"About three days."

"Did anyone die besides Mel?"

"One person."

"Goodnight Daphne. I love you."

"I love you, Niles."

The silence that followed drove Daphne into a blank sea of troublesome worry. Her death was coming soon, she realized, very soon. Not only that, Niles needed a bandage. She thought that maybe a sponsor would send him one, but so far no such luck.

What were they to do?

Just as she asked that question, she heard Claudius Templesmith's voice.

"_Greetings, tributes…"_


	24. Chapter 24

Daphne stood up straight immediately, half expecting Niles to wake up. He didn't.

"_Greetings, tributes. I would like to announce that you are all invited to a…banquet of sorts. Each of you is in need of something, and you might just find it there if you look hard enough. We'll see you tomorrow at the cornucopia. May the odds be ever in your favor."_

Daphne leaned back again. Well, this was a way of getting a bandage for sure.

She thought about the different words Claudius Templesmith had chosen, especially the part about looking hard enough. That had to be some sort of hint- would they have to search for their parcel?

Watching the games, she realized, wasn't such a bad thing for a tribute. She could remember many "banquets" from past games, all ranging from very basic to very complicated. All she knew was that the last thing they needed was another battle between tributes like they had had with Mel, Maris, Silver, and her with Wren.

She hoped that they could just grab what they needed and go, without even seeing another tribute.

When Niles woke up that morning, Daphne explained about the announcement. "You need a bandage, very badly I'm afraid. Niles, normally I'd say we shouldn't risk it, but this is too important. I think we have to go."

"Alright, if that's what you think is best. When should we go?"

"Now is as good of a time as any, I suppose."

So they packed up their things and headed in the direction of the cornucopia.

When they got there, they stayed inside the embrace of the trees for a moment, trying to decipher what this was. They knew they were the first ones there, because no footprints had been left. All across the large, open area of the clearing were five tall piles of snow, all equally spread apart from each other. There was no confusing it, this was meant to make you run and run fast, something Daphne was very good at.

"I'm going," she announced, but Niles grabbed her arm before she could. "Then I'm going with you," he told her.

She shook her head. "I want you to stay right here and back me up." She kissed him on the lips briefly, then began to run as fast as she could to the first mound.

Kneeling next to it, she began to dig through the snow quickly, looked at the parcel, saw it read "2" and then ran to the next one. The next one was "4" and the third "11." Finally, on the fourth pile she reached theirs and began to run back to Niles.

"DAPHNE!" she heard him shout, and when she looked behind her he saw a male tribute throwing a spear at her. She dodged it, then began to run faster than before, at full speed.

When she reached Niles at last they began to run away from the cornucopia, not sure if they were being followed or not. They stopped finally, when Daphne had looked back for the third time and confirmed that no one was following them.

After they had sat down on top of the snow, Niles wished that she would kiss him, but then remembered that he could do it himself.

And he did.

He leaned over slowly and put his hands on her back, then brought her to his lips softly. The kiss started off tender and meek, but he knew there was more inside of him than that and soon he found himself kissing her fervently. He wasn't quite sure how long it lasted, for inside of him he was lost for those few moments. Niles knew that this was what he had been daydreaming about all of those countless hours.

Carefully he let her go, then whispered to her, "You are so brave." She leaned into give him a smaller, shorter one. "And so beautiful," he told her afterwards.

"You make me feel like a princess, Niles," Daphne said.

"You are much more than a princess."

She slid her head onto his shoulder and placed her arms around him.

"Oh, what was I thinking? We've got to get your bandage on," she said but a moment later. She handed him the medicine and while he applied it to his skin, she got the bandage from the parcel, and then put it on him.

"That ought to do," Daphne said.

They sat in silence for a moment, satisfied that they no longer had any needs waiting to be fulfilled.

Daphne looked over at Niles and for the first time in days asked him, "Are you afraid?"

What could he say? Niles knew what the answer was, but he wanted to be strong for Daphne and make sure she felt safe.

"Do you want the truth?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then yes, Daphne. I am very afraid."

"I am too."

"I won't let anything happen to you."

"But Niles, I _know _I'm going to die. I've told you."

"Never. I will not let that happen."

"If that's true, then…you're the one who's going to die."

"Yes, but I don't really care about that."

"I do." She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I don't ever know if I'll ever get the chance to say this to you again, but…Niles, I really hope that you can win this after I pass on…"

"No, Daphne…"

"But Niles-"

"Daphne, _please," _he said with desperation tight in his voice.

Daphne didn't speak for minutes yet, until she asked, "Shall we go and get ourselves a goose?"

He smiled. "Yes."

They both stood up and took each other's hand, walking towards the creek.


	25. Chapter 25

That evening it was revealed that one tribute had been killed that day due to the banquet, and both Niles and Daphne knew they were one step closer to the end of these games.

Daphne tried not to think about what would happen to them next. Like every Hunger Games, she knew that soon there would be a final deadly event that would befall each and every final tribute, one that would finish off most if not all of the remaining competitors until a victor was declared.

She and Niles went along with their daily routines: staying away from tributes, getting water and food when they needed it, and keeping warm. This lasted for a day and a half with no cannons and no big events. It was obvious to both of them that the Gamemakers were looking to see if the players would wrap up the games on their own or if they would have to do it themselves.

Two days after the banquet, it began.

It was afternoon, and Niles and Daphne were sitting down in the snow by their fire, not knowing what else to do when it began to snow softly, and they brushed it off nonchalantly. Soon after, a cold wind began to pick up through the trees and both it and the snow got heavier and heavier, and as it did Niles reached over and grabbed Daphne's hand. At that moment they knew what this was, and they grabbed their things and got to their feet immediately.

Soon everything became white and extremely cold, and they could not move. They stayed rooted to the spot and clenched their freezing hands together. Both said nothing, but they could practically hear the other's heart pounding, and they knew there was nothing they could do about it.

Worry and dread consumed them and they felt open and unprotected, defenseless and weak. Niles worried about what would happen to Daphne if someone were to attack them, and Daphne herself worried about both of them. If she died now, Niles was likely to die as well.

When both thought they had reached the climax of their misfortune, the rains started. It came slowly at first like a normal shower, and then it began to race at them with all the power of the wind. It came like water then froze like ice to their skin and clothes. It stung like small pebbles being thrown against them repeatedly. They could hear it on the trees and on the top of the snow, they could hear it on the tops of the their heads and on the tips of their boots. At the very top of it all was Daphne's sharp scream hitting the air, and Niles panicked, not knowing if she was being hurt or if the horror of all of this was getting to her. He could only take her and wrap her in his arms, trying to protect her from her fears. The rain, the snow and the wind kept up for what seemed like hours to them, and Daphne cried loudly and shamelessly within Niles' embrace. He himself could feel his eyes start to get wet.

Knowing nothing else to do, he swore to her that everything was almost over. "Everything will be okay," he said over and over again. "Everything will be okay."

Daphne went back to when she had said goodbye to her family so long ago, before any of this hell had ever started. All she had wanted was someone to tell her that everything would be okay. Niles was speaking to her soul, and deep inside she suddenly felt better.

She stopped crying.

Slamming her eyes shut, she tried to imagine a time when she was warm, warm and happy, and she went back to when she had laid in the colorful wildflowers for so long. Then she imagined Niles there with her and never had she felt more wonderful.

When she opened her eyes, everything had stopped and the sun was shining. The snow was above their knees and it had drops of ice covering it, but they were alive and they were free.

They heard two cannons and knew that it was them and one other person left, but they did not spend time dwelling on that at the moment.

Niles and Daphne started laughing and hugged violently, knowing they had survived but that they had a tumultuous road ahead of them.


	26. Chapter 26

When the daylight finally faded, Niles and Daphne got into their sleeping bags and waited for the faces to appear in the sky. They discovered that the only person left besides them was Ruse, the only remaining career.

"Daphne," Niles whispered, "if it should be only you and I remaining, please know that I myself will take the responsibility-"

"Niles…"

"I will take the responsibility and give up my own life."

"Niles, please don't say that!"

"Daphne, my love, if I don't, I came here for nothing."

She was silent.

"I love you so much, Daphne, and I'm not going to let you die."

"Alright," she whispered, knowing in the end it wouldn't really matter because she still held on to her vision. She would die, and now she knew by who- Ruse. Niles' loving words meant very much to her, but she knew the truth.

Niles on the other hand had a steep plan. Sometime they would run into Ruse, and when they did he and Daphne would kill him, then Niles himself would eat the nightlock berries he had seen in various places around the arena and Daphne would win and live well for the rest of her life. It was simple and to the point.

He said goodnight to her and did what he had almost every night, he sat alone with his thoughts.

* * *

When morning dawned, Daphne had a strange feeling inside of her. She could not name it as an emotion but it felt steady, certain, and carefully laid. Inside she did not feel nervous or scared, she felt at peace, as if she had accepted what would happen to her ultimately.

She woke up Niles and they had a breakfast of almost-frozen berries. Daphne liked the taste of them very much, and as she ate them she wished she had had them on summer days.

When they had finished eating, they got up and began to walk again, keeping an eye out for Ruse and holding each other's hands. Neither of them were afraid for the first time in days.

Around lunchtime, they decided to find more berries to eat, and they started to pick some from a small bush that was very low to the ground.

"Niles, I'll be right over here. I'm going to go and find a better bush."

He got to his feet, staring Daphne straight in the eye. "I'm coming with you, then," he replied.

Daphne laughed lightly. "Niles, you haven't left me alone since we got here. It'll be alright. I'm just going to be over here. I've got my knife and everything. I'll just yell if I need you."

Niles was not convinced. He just looked at her for a moment, and she smiled and kissed him.

Without hesitation, he kissed back.

"Don't worry," she said, and she walked away from him.

He thought about stopping her for a moment, but then decided against it at the last second.

Stooping over, he picked more berries and collected them in his cupped hand.

That was when he heard the scream.

He bolted upright and started to run as fast as he could to where he had seen Daphne go, but as he ran he heard the cannon, perhaps the worst sound he had ever heard.

When he had found where her footprints stopped, his body shut down. She was there lying in the snow, with a knife in her chest, dead.

He saw Ruse standing in front of her feet, and just for a moment anger won over grief inside of Niles. He drew his knife from his belt, grabbed Ruse, pulled him down, and began to stab him over and over again, even after the cannon had already sounded.

When two bloodly bodies laid in front of him, Niles collapsed to his knees and then fell on his face, feeling the tears about to rise. He pulled his head up to look at beautiful Daphne, and as he did he heard the hovercraft above him.

At that second he knew that he should have let Ruse kill him. In his mind, there was no reason he should be going home.

Daphne was dead.


	27. Chapter 27

Niles was lurched awake in his imported leather armchair and almost fell out of it as he stumbled to his feet.

As all of it came rushing on upon him, he looked around the room and discovered he was tucked safely in his study. He had fallen asleep in his very comfortable chair while reading and he had only had a very real, very intricate nightmare.

His heart was still pounding as he tried to assure himself that none of his dream had been real.

The Hunger Games _is but a fictional story…_

_You nearly had a dream…_

_Daphne isn't dead._

As he realized this, a wave of sweet relief came over him. He thought about how sweet it would be to see her face again.

"Daphne!" he called, wanting to hold her in his arms. However, there was no answer. "Daphne!" she shouted again, walking out in the hallway. Becoming more and more frantic, he said her name over and over again until he reached the library and found his son David inside, reading.

"David," Niles asked him, "where is your mother?"

He did not look up from his book as he answered, "With Grandpa."

"Oh," he said, disappointed. "What are you reading?" He asked his son.

"_The Hunger Games."_

Niles nearly choked as his son read the words. He ripped the book from his hands and threw it on the floor with all of his strength.

David just stared at his father with his mouth open slightly.

"How can you be reading such-such-such TRASH?" Niles shouted.

"But Dad, yesterday you told me that it was one of the great works of literature of our times. You told me it was one of the best examples of human behavior you had ever seen."

"You are barely nine years old! How could you be reading this-this-this FILTH?"

"But you were the one who told me to read it!"

Niles was silent for a moment and breathed heavily. "You are to never, EVER touch that book again for as long as you live! Do you hear me?"

"Yes, Dad, of course."

David watched his father as he stormed out of the library, and he picked up the book and placed it back on the shelf, then went back to his room.

Downstairs, Niles searched for his cell phone to call his wife. He knew it would help to hear her. He put the phone to his ear and begged her to pick up from across the city.

"Hi, Niles," was the first thing he heard her say. She had such a beautiful voice.

"My angel!" Niles exclaimed.

Daphne laughed. "Yes?"

"Are you going to be home soon?"

"I'm not sure."

"I hope you don't mind me asking…but can you come home right now? I would love to see you, darling."

"That's very sweet, Niles. I'll be home as soon as I can. I don't think your father will mind too much." She chuckled.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Niles. See you soon."

As he hung up, Niles sat down on his fainting couch and sighed. _Curse Suzanne Collins, _he thought, _and curse _The Hunger Games. Niles had never had a more frightening, realistic, detailed dream in his entire life. He would have to call Frasier later so they could discuss and interpret it.

He sat and thought about the dream until he heard the door open and close again. Leaping to his feet, Niles ran to Daphne and hugged her tightly. "My love," he said. "I'm very glad to see you."

She smiled. "Apparently so. What's wrong, Niles?"

"I had a terrible dream," he said, taking her hands in his and kissing them. "A dream I lost you."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said.

"Never have I experienced anything so horrifying."

"What was it about?"

"_The Hunger Games. _You were picked, and I volunteered to protect you, but I failed."

"Oh, dear. Are you going to call Frasier and talk to him about it?"

"Yes, later. Right now, I'd just like to be with you."

"Of course."

They sat down on the fainting couch. Niles ran up to get his book from the study and Daphne read a magazine. Even David joined them awhile later, and Niles was very glad to be with two of the most important people in his life. His dream soon slipped away from him just being with them, and though it stuck in the back of his mind, his love for his family soon erased the horror it had once brought inside of him.

* * *

**The End**


End file.
